Vermont State Senator Rodgers has submitted a Bill the state legislature to ban mobile phones for anyone under 21. In the case of our Australian visitor (aged 28), had such a ban been in place, it would not have prevented the live streaming.
The good Senator has clearly shown what harm these devices have on young impressionable minds and why banning them from the immature under 21s would be such a positive step forward. In Vermont 21 is the legal age for possession of a firearm, to smoke cigarettes, or to consume alcohol.
[...]
12 Sec. 1. FINDINGS
13 The General Assembly finds:
14 (1) The use of cell phones while driving is one of the leading killers of
15 teenagers in the United States. According to the United States Department of
16 Transportation, cell phones are involved in 1.6 million automobile crashes
17 each year, causing half a million injuries and 6,000 deaths. Each day,
18 11 teenagers die in automobile crashes in this country.
19 (2) Young people frequently use cell phones to bully and threaten other
20 young people, activities that have been linked to many suicides.
(3) The Internet and social media, accessed primarily through cell
Page 2
2 phones, are used to radicalize and recruit terrorists, fascists, and other
3 extremists.
4 (4) Cell phones have often been used by mass shooters of younger ages
5 for research on previous shootings.
6 (5) In light of the dangerous and life-threatening consequences of cell
7 phone use by young people, it is clear that persons under 21 years of age are
8 not developmentally mature enough to safely possess them, just as the General
9 Assembly has concluded that persons under 21 years of age are not mature
10 enough to possess firearms, smoke cigarettes, or consume alcohol.
11 Sec. 2. 13 V.S.A. § 1312 is added to read:
12 § 1312. POSSESSION OF CELL PHONES BY PERSONS UNDER 21
13 YEARS OF AGE PROHIBITED
14 A person under 21 years of age shall not possess, own, or use a cellular
15 telephone. A person who violates this subsection shall be imprisoned for not
16 more than one year or fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. [...]
There is still time for a Captain’s Call before the election to get the mobile phones away from the children before the armed raids begin.
Just as well youth in Vermont do not use tablets or laptops or – heaven forbid – desktops (how last century).
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