# How could a government go about changing a young persons dependence on mobile phones **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374 "2019-05-22T19:55:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/21 "2019-05-22T23:29:26Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I hardly ever use my phone. So there’s that. > > ~Max So the government should clone **Max S.** and use those clones to secretly replace all other children. Some of them will require wigs. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/22 "2019-05-22T23:45:59Z")
I’m not convinced that this is in any way a problem. Let alone something the government should be involved with “solving” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/23 "2019-05-22T23:47:05Z")
As a parent, I say the government needs to know it’s place and get out of the business of trying to tell me what my kids have or use. Unless the kids you see are selling secrets to foreign powers it’s none of the governments business. Anyway, our government ain’t got no time to police cel phone use by teens. And whose gonna pay for it? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/24 "2019-05-22T23:49:08Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > So the government should clone **Max S.** and use those clones to secretly replace all other children. > > Some of them will require wigs. I’m 22, and I don’t think my clones could pass as under 18 or 19. Then again, back when I was in school you couldn’t have your phone out in class. Even the outline of a phone in your pocket was grounds to have it confiscated until the end of the day. Back when I was in primary school phones were still used to call and text, a phone was not an iPod, and kids with phones were unheard of. Today my sibling reports that phones are commonplace in the classroom during lectures, and that teachers often solicit internet searches in the middle of class. I have even heard that some teachers administer pop quizzes online, and students are given the option of using their mobile phones for the quiz or waiting for a turn on the computers in the back of the room. Not to mention all of the online coursework such as video lectures or electronic textbooks. Schools are often an arm of the state government so I would say they are encouraging, not discouraging the integration with technology. Though I don’t use phones that much, this change is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, I work with screens all day every day because government regulations demand it. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/25 "2019-05-23T01:44:28Z")
Speaking as a teacher, not only are there a number of ways that we plan for the use of phones in our curriculum, but I’ve also seen plenty of students, on their own initiative, find constructive and useful ways to make use of their phones in the classroom. The potential upside is far too great for me to be comfortable with a blanket ban on their use. And of the non-constructive uses, communicating with other students is by far the most common one. They’re talking to each other too much, not too little. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/26 "2019-05-23T06:21:46Z")
Have another massive world war. Can’t be sending tokens to people on chaturbate if you got a 120mm shell coming right at you! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/27 "2019-05-23T12:20:52Z")
The OP reminds me of the documentary _[The Lost Children of Rockdale County](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/georgia/etc/synopsis.html)_. A suburb of Atlanta had skyrocketing VD rates due to parents not being parents. Some of the kids were startlingly young. One key scenes was a big meeting with parents, town officials, etc. The parents kept asking over and over. “What can the police/schools/churches do to fix this.” And they just didn’t get the standard response: This is for you (the parents) to fix. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/28 "2019-05-23T12:38:02Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I’m not convinced that this is in any way a problem. Let alone something the government should be involved with “solving” This. How about the government addresses the health care crisis, deals with gun control, and maybe solves climate change. Then, after lunch, they can study communication concerns. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/29 "2019-05-23T12:47:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What’s worse, they’re telling jokes they read in Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang! And hiding dime novels in the corn crib! And using words like ‘swell’ and ‘so’s your old man’! And listening to that shameless Ragtime music! Friends, ya got trouble! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/30 "2019-05-23T12:48:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > They talk to each other all the time, they just do it based on shared interests, not shared geography. We’d never do anything like _that_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/31 "2019-05-23T12:59:15Z")
> [@](#): > > How could a government go about changing a young persons dependence on mobile phones Bring back land lines? (Yeah, right.) Seriously, we’re in a world where everyone carries their phone around with them. And mostly they’re smart phones. That’s just the way it is. So of course teens are going to have mobile phones, because otherwise they don’t have a phone, period - most of them don’t even have a land line at home. I don’t get what we could possibly do about this, let alone why we _should_. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/32 "2019-05-23T13:16:39Z")
Same thing the government did about our dependence on [newspapers](https://kottke.org/plus/misc/images/kubrick-subway-newspapers.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/33 "2019-05-23T13:21:26Z")
Ban children. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/34 "2019-05-23T15:37:34Z")
Make phones not cool. Or more educational. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/35 "2019-05-23T15:48:41Z")
The kids would be awful bored and lonely sitting there while their parents and grandparents are glued to their own phones. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/36 "2019-05-23T15:50:39Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > The addiction to mobile phones by teenagers and young adults is an epidemic. Everywhere you look young people are glued to their screens. No one talks to each other. > > How could governments change this behaviour without outright bans. What could they do to the technology to make it change this addiction. Something surreptitious and gradual. If the government does anything, it should sponsor the development and mandate technology that would greatly mitigate distracted driving by smartphone. That is an epidemic too, and can actually kill people. I really don’t care if some teenager doesn’t talk to another teenager. In public, I view that as an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/37 "2019-05-23T16:08:27Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > If the government does anything, it should sponsor the development and mandate technology that would greatly mitigate distracted driving by smartphone. That is an epidemic too, and can actually kill people. I really don’t care if some teenager doesn’t talk to another teenager. In public, I view that as an improvement. Perhaps a bit of copper in the roof would cut off phone reception in cars. Copper absorbs radio frequency waves. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/38 "2019-05-23T16:26:02Z")
I had to change my syllabus from “no electronic devices allowed” because we use them so much in classes and labs. I can quickly email a base map to all my students prior to a lab and with the Avenza app they will have access everything I want them to have like an aerial photo coverage, work area, plot centers, property lines with ownership. They can use the map to collect GPS points and tracks and utilize those in their field reports. I use Survey123 to create data collection forms. We play bird calls and get responses. We look up vegetation and diseases in plants. We use random a number generator for sampling. We use the calculators (except for on tests). I couldn’t imagine teaching without them. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/39 "2019-05-23T16:29:18Z")
I’m a store cashier and believe you me, it’s not just teenagers. It’s all ages, colors, and creeds. I wish it was treated like smoking: Do it outside or in your own space. Not in public. I once wondered how young people were going to be able to keep a job if they couldn’t stop being on that damn device. Then I thought for the first time in my life “DAMN! I am old.” ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374/40 "2019-05-23T16:40:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I wish it was treated like smoking: Do it outside or in your own space. Not in public. This seems strange. So, according to you, I shouldn’t be allowed to read the news on my phone while I am in a restaurant eating by myself? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-a-government-go-about-changing-a-young-persons-dependence-on-mobile-phones/834374.md?page=3)