Earlier this week I started the car and drove up the local Rami-Levi. After all who doesn't like to save, right? On my way there, I noticed Noam, the kid from the 3rd floor, only in 3rd grade, sitting by himself at the bus stop, which seemed weird to me since it was past 9pm at night.
As I drove closer, I noticed he was concentrating on his cell phone and wearing his ear pods. I pulled over and was about to offer him a ride anywhere, when he jumped and immediately pushed his cell in his pocket. "Hi Mr. E…." he said. I realized that I had just interrupted something rather intimate that has no place back home. I sadly drove away as I had nothing to offer to the poor child.
So many young children these days deal with the smartphone challenge. The little device that made everything so easy. Easy to know American history, easy to prepare for a math and algebra test, easy to master language arts, and sadly too easy to be exposed to pornography, violence, shaming and other harmful web dangers.
It’s terrifying to think that there is no barrier whatsoever between these young children and everything else out there. You hear our politicians tumble and rumble about economic crisis, wars that set to be or other concerns, but nothing about our children that are failing in the smartphone battlefield every day. Isn’t there anybody who cares?
These days the average age to get a smartphone according to CNN is around 8, with that number going down by the day, and the amount of data going up. Every other child in the US is exposed to pornography at the mere age of 8!!! Phones and data are becoming easier to get and harder to manage. It is only me or there is a real crisis here we are all ignoring?
Here’s the thing. There are some people who actually care, and their name is ScreenSavers. This phenomenal organization is going child by child, school by school, educating children in the proper use of smartphones. Topics that are normally ignored by the system or considered indigestible are now part of the agenda, and our children are loving it! ScreenSavers have called to change the reality that our children are exposed to on the web, and to make it a safe environment.
The way they do it is by creating social teen groups that are later turned into communities. These teenagers, along by adult volunteers, go into high schools to talk with the teens, in addition to online activity via social media. In addition, the organization provides free consultation for parents and educators around the clock and provides the latest digital solutions to protect their children and students.
Itay Shaulian, one of the organization's coordinators, shared some key facts about the recent activities. They have had over 25,000 teenagers take part in the activity and engage in life-changing actions to make their internet use safe and productive. Over 12,000 people have turned their personal smartphones to protected ones, and over 5,000 people have signed a legal petition to request legislation in the field of blocking pornographic content. Hundreds of families have joined the organization's communities, and thousands attended "online safety conventions."
The more you dig in, the more you realize that the smartphone challenge is just beginning, and we need to be there to stop it before it turns into a huge avalanche. Researches tell us that young adults are less interested in physical connection with the other gender due to high consumption of sexual content online. More and more parents are complaining about lack of "quality time" with their children, more and more couples that feel there is a wall of glass and aluminum between them called a smartphone…
WE CAN CHANGE ALL THAT!
Today, ScreenSavers are leading a major change and calling you to join them! Join the organization's campaign to raise 600K in the next 24 hours. Your support will enable the organization to move forward and bring safe and smart browsing everywhere. With your help, we can reduce cyber bullying, we can eliminate shaming, and we can educate more teens in proper smartphone use.
Have you ever struggled with a blocked-by-smartphone kid’s face? Have you ever missed your significant other even though they were sitting right in front of you? Have you ever felt so tired from checking the buzzing plastic brick in your pocket over and over again? Have you had enough???
This is the time to make a change, take action now, and make a better world for our children!