Some of the people who created many popular apps are telling kids to put their phones away–at least, a bit more often.
The Center for Humane Technology is made up of people who used to work for big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Now they want kids to stop using those apps and websites so much.
In early February the Center, along with Common Sense Media, launched an awareness campaign called the Truth About Tech. Its goal is to teach students, parents and teachers about the dangers of spending too much time on smart phones and tablets.
Tag: phone
Word Of The Year: Selfie
“Selfie” has been named the word of the year.
Oxford Dictionaries chose the word because its usage increased by 17,000 per cent over last year.
A “selfie” is a photo that a person takes of himself, usually with his smart phone.
Have you ever seen a picture of a person that he took by holding his phone out in front of him? That’s a selfie.
A selfie can also be taken in a mirror or with a webcam.
Another term for selfie is “self portrait.”
The term was first used in 2002, in an online chat in Australia.
Texters Studied In New Research
The University Of Winnipeg in Manitoba recently tested students to see if their texting habits made a difference to the way they thought.
In one part of the study, 2,300 first-year psychology students completed one-hour online surveys.
The survey asked about what they thought was important to them as well as how often they texted.
The study found that those who texted more than 100 times a day were more interested in being rich and famous than those who texted 50 times or fewer each day.
To heavy texters, an ethical or a moral life was not as important as those who texted 50 or fewer times a day.
Another part of the study tested how students felt about different social, racial and ethnic groups. In this part, some students texted, some spoke on cellphones and some did neither.
Judge Finds Himself In Contempt Of Court
A judge in Michigan did something very unusual last week. He charged himself with “contempt of court” and gave himself a fine of $25.
People can get charged with contempt when they do something during a trial that the judge believes shows disrespect to the court.
So when judge Raymond Voet’s cell phone went off during a trial on April 13, he declared himself to be in contempt. Then he had to pay his own court $25.
It happened during a speech that was being given by one of the lawyers.
The judge’s phone started “talking,” loudly speaking some voice commands.
He thinks he may have accidentally bumped it, which turned on its voice activation–a feature the judge told MLive.com he didn’t even know it had.
