Colorado group wants to ban sale of smartphones to young kids

[de officiis]

Colorado group wants to ban sale of smartphones for kids younger than 13

DENVER -- There's a grass-roots effort to stop the sale of smartphones for use by children younger than 13 years old.

Parents Against Underage Smartphones is collecting signatures to get Initiative 29 on the 2018 ballot.

Colorado officials have cleared the language of the proposed ballot measure, the Associated Press reported Sunday. Supporters need about 300,000 signatures.

"Initiative 29 prohibits retailers from selling or permitting the sale of a smartphone to a person under the age of 13, or to any person who indicates that the smartphone will be wholly or partially owned by a person under the age of 13," the proposal states.

"Retailers must verbally inquire about the age of the intended primary owner of the smartphone prior to the sale, document the response, and file a monthly report to the Department of Revenue."

Retailers who sell a smartphone for use by a preteen would get a warning for the first offense, but could be fined from $500 to $20,000 for subsequent violations.

I'm willing to concede giving a smart phone to kids at such a young age probably isn't healthy, but this strikes me as nanny-statism.

[Speaker to Animals]

There are phones designed for kids. It should be up to parents, however.

Schools, for instance, trying to take away what gives kids instant contact with their parents angers me.

[TheReal_ND]

There are phones designed for kids. It should be up to parents, however.

Schools, for instance, trying to take away what gives kids instant contact with their parents angers me.

Oh like YouTube for kids with Spoder Man Elsa double abortions and syringes? Yeah. I bet there is a smart phone for kids. I've heard that kindle fire's streaming service isn't subversive though.

[Speaker to Animals]

There are phones designed for kids. It should be up to parents, however.

Schools, for instance, trying to take away what gives kids instant contact with their parents angers me.

Oh like YouTube for kids with Spoder Man Elsa double abortions and syringes? Yeah. I bet there is a smart phone for kids. I've heard that kindle fire's streaming service isn't subversive though.

Nooo.

Just phone calls and texts to parents and approved contacts.

[TheReal_ND]

Oh like a dumb phone. Yeah those are a good idea imo. I think they are going to try and take them off the market because they provide a level of anonymity though.

[heydaralon]

Oh like a dumb phone. Yeah those are a good idea imo. I think they are going to try and take them off the market because they provide a level of anonymity though.

Yeah govt hates those burner phones and prepaid ones. They've been trying to stop those for years. I guess the latest attempt is in that fucked up Joseph Stalin anti-money laundering bill you made that thread about. I'm glad that people having cash and prepaid phones is the main thing the gov't is worried about, as opposed to fixing the economy.

[Speaker to Animals]

I would just design a smartphone OS for kids to work on existing devices. That would give the games and strictly limited communication capabilities.

[TheReal_ND]

Honestly if you are one of those that are relieved a little to let them jam out on YouTube (I was once) a simple solution would be how to create a playlist that doesn't let them deviate or click away from.

[heydaralon]

When I was in high school, all the school computers blocked youtube so it was this weird cat and mouse game where the kids would use those tunnel sites and the school would block those then another one would come back up. Basically how it is in China lol.

[TheReal_ND]

Probably because YouTube started off as a file sharing platform. Now you have YouTube kids which is supposed to be curated and benign, YouTube heroes, graphic warnings etc to give you the illusion kids won't watch other kids eat chocalte out of the toilet or soft child porn. It doesn't work and I'm convinced YouTube doesn't want it to. That one video called cloud air or something that literally had a homo shitting on another man's face was up for weeks despite constant flagging. It didn't have a warning. It took Pewds doing a show on it to finally get YouTube to take it down. Then Disney fired him shortly after joking about being a YouTube hero Nazi.