Support For the Cause

Looking through the Academic search Premier, I found that my topic does hold relevance and I will be able to research several different areas of cell phone effects on children. I was afraid, after searching through the OVRC last week that I would not be able to the topic I wanted about children and the affects of technology. All of these articles can be swayed to go for both how cell phones affect kids, and how the buying of technology affects families. I cited several sites, because many of them were very short and I wanted to be able to have more reference later for our paper.

“Cell-phone-savvy kids.” Knapstein, Karen, Scholastic Parent & Child; Apr2007, Vol. 14 Issue 6, p62-62, 1/2p.
This is a very short article, mainly going into statistics. I thought that this would be good for a back up article, sighting the statistics for cell phone ownership. This article proclaimed that 74 percent of 13-to 18-year-olds owned their own cellular phones, and 26 percent of the 6- to 12-year-olds were owners.

“Child Wants Cellphone: Reception Is Mixed.” By: Foderaro, Lisa W. The New York Times Date. 03/29/2007 Volume: 156 Issue: 53898.
This article goes into the pros and cons of giving kids cell phones; why teenagers want them and the reasons for or against giving in to the demands of cell phones. It has some examples on parents who have given cells and why, then the opposite view, why some parents refuse to give phones. Also, this article details the for profit reasons of selling phones and why companies target teens. What phones are being sold and for what reasons.

Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers; Nov/Dec2006, Vol. 81 Issue 8, p8-9, 2p
This article talks about cell phone usage in schools and the benefits or drawbacks to it. There are a lot of things to consider with phones, you cant just look at the bad. This one goes solely into usage in classrooms, but it does shed light on why kids DO have cells. A lot of parents want to be in constant contact, or at least have that idea available to them.

“Home-Based ‘Digital Divide.’” Trotter, Andrew. Education Week; 10/31/2007, Vol. 27 Issue 10, p5-5, 1/7p
This article details how housing income retaliates to the technology the household has. It is not a very long article, but does site a study and give little hints about why kids clamor for new technology and how technology may play a part in kids lives. Those whose parents cannot afford the latest gadgets will be shunned by peers, resulting in the degrading social life.

“Parents should restrict children's use of mobile phones.” Brettingham, Madeleine. BMJ: British Medical Journal; 1/15/2005, Vol. 330 Issue 7483, p109-109, 1/2p, 1c
This article details the potential risk to a child’s brain when using a cell phone for long periods of time. It states that research is being done to prove or disprove the idea that children using cell phones intensively can lead to damage of that child’s DNA, as well as an increased risk for cancer or brain tumors. Right now, data and experiments are still being preformed, but this article lays the basis for the idea.