Smartphone use has become ubiquitous in our daily lives and people of all ages use it daily. However, it seems that legislators in other parts of the world have other ideas about the very use of this technology.
In Vermont, there is a bill that seeks to ban the use of cellphones for anyone under the age of 21. The bill was introudced to the judiciary committee where it would make the possession of a cellphone punishable by upto one year in prison or $1,000 fine, or both.
“In light of dangerous and life threatening consequences of cellphone use by young people, it is clear that persons under 21 years of age are not developmentally mature enough to safely possess them, just as the General Assembly concluded that persons under 21 years of age are not mature enough to possess firearms, smoke cigarettes, or consume alcohol” the bill reads.
The senator who introduced the bill, John Rodgers, said the bill was introduced to raise convsersation and he doesn’t expect it to pass. “I wouldn’t probably vote for it myself,” he was quoted as saying.
The bill quoted that young people use cell phones to bully others, links to mainy suicides and the involvment of 1.6 million crashes due to cell phone use. It also quotes that cellphone use, primarly social media use are used to radicalize and recruit terrorists, fascists, and other extremists.
It is not a surprise that such bills are starting to be tabled in parliaments around the world. Legislators are now catching up to regulate this sector that has completely changed how we do things in the past decade.
