Tag Archive for cell phone

Cell Phone Addicts

No kidding.  A recent study on teenagers and cell phones showed that when kids hear a ring tone or text alert their brains release dopamine.  Yes, that’s the same reaction they have to taking drugs.

50% of teens admit to being addicted to their cell phones.  And the addition is real, because when they can’t use them they experience actual physiological withdrawal symptoms, like nausea, sweating, and shaking.

Okay, parents. Here’s what to do.  Limit kids’ data.  Program the phone to cut off at certain times (like bedtime).  Model not being glued to your own phone.  Have family times (dinner?) when no phones are allowed.  Maybe even have a day or an evening each week when no one in the family uses a cell phone.

The idea is to have breaks in the cell-phone use so the habit can be broken and so kids can learn that it’s okay not to be tied to it 24/7.

Worth a try?  For our kids’ sake…and maybe our own?

That Daunting Garage Mess

Confronting you is the garage-corner with those electronic gadgets your spouse says must go!  Guess that means a dump-run, although those items are poison to the environment.  Stop!  There are alternatives.  You can put old electronics to better use than polluting the landfill.  Donate office machines to charities which do needed repairs then sell them to support their programs.  Give cell phones and laser or ink-jet cartridges to the Fraternal Order of Eagles, which supports children’s and veterans’ programs with them.  Give a cell phone to a battered woman, a disabled man, or an elderly couple, showing them how to keep it charged and how to dial the free emergency number, or to organizations that do that for you.  For example, the YMCA gives refurbished phones to domestic violence shelters and victims and to the elderly and disabled.  The options are there.  Mother Earth will thank you, and so will the vulnerable people you help.