The Len Lesser Report

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OUR YOUNG PEOPLE ARE ADDICTED TO THEIR CELL PHONES

The world of tablets/cell phones has sure changed society.

Everywhere you go you see people who are attached to their mobile devices, Nary do they look up to acknowledge where they are or who they happen to be with. Two thumbs on the key pad typing yet another message to someone in cyberspace hoping for a quick response. Couples no longer make eye contact when they are out and about.

Scary to see a friend of mine from the Y with his six year old boy, Steve, at the market who was attached to his tablet playing a new game. I asked him: "if he would allow me to put it away in his father’s bag ?" He was not happy with my suggestion and only reluctantly agreed to part with his magic toy when his father promised to return it when they came home.

Last week I sat down next to a young man in the mall who was using his phone. I asked him how long he could do without his phone? He replied: "Sir, you are very lucky coming from a different generation that you are not addicted to being constantly connected on line."

My wife and I only use our cell phone for emergencies . We pay $11.00 per month for our phone with the time that we do not use added to our account. At the time of writing we have a credit of 400 hours.

I have counselled young people who spend six-seven hours a day with their cell phones in their hands. One of my young clients was very proud that she took her phone into the shower with her. When the phone flashed/beeped she would jump out with her hair sometimes full of soap to answer the call.

Brilliant students complaign that they have four hours of homework each night: hard to concentrate while texting for three and one half hours. I advised that perhaps the phone should be left in the kitchen and the call display would identify the callers for a later time. If looks could kill.

Recently my wife and I took a walk to the village making sure that we faced the oncoming traffic. As fate would have it a car ran us off the road onto the shoulder forcing us to find safety in the ditch. A young man jumped out of his car with his cell phone in hand to ascertain how we were.

We now have a society of young people whose cell phone is like unto an umbilical chord that they fear if cut will take them out of the loop of acceptance.

It must be hard to teach a high school/ college students when they are busy texting. I remember that the biggest social problem faced by classroom teachers in the past when I worked for the board were male students wearing baseball hats to class. Students now advise me that they are not to use their phones in class when the teachers are trying to teach. For the vast majority of students the temptations are much too hard to resist and they can barely wait for the teacher to turn her/his back to reconnect.

I suspect that we have raised a generation of people that have to be hard wired to their mobile devises. Hard to be independent; being on one’s own while being dependent being constantly in-touch literally 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Do you think that there is chance that people will have the willpower to throw away their tablets/cell phones and be once again free? I am interested in your opinion.

Len Lesser