So…my forth grader came home today talking excitedly about something he did at school. He has been under the water, seen the Coral reef, entered a submarine and an “old airport”, although it was difficult to really understand why this last one was interesting.
“Wait…Did you see pictures?” I said.
“No, Mom- more! You could see them behind your head!” he said.
I went online to Google and found the name of this new school adventure he had gone on… “Google Expedition” it was called. Details had been in an email from the teacher but I had not paid much attention. How cool: the kids wear a virtual reality visor that allows them to travel to far away places right from the classroom.
So Incredible! Until someone told me that keeping a smartphone in front of a child’s eye is not so smart. Not at all. Inside these the cool cardboard boxes Google gave the kids, there is a cheap smartphone. The phones are wirelessly connected through a special router to an iPad the teacher uses to lead them through this “adventure” to far away lands. I came back from Wonderland and became a responsible mom.
Soooo….kids have a smartphone in front of their eyes that is continuously receiving a radiofrequency radiation signal from the iPad?
At this point, we all know that cell phone radiation could cause brain cancer. Almost everybody avoids talking with the phone close to their head. Smart people use earbuds. Even my most skeptical friends would not spend forty minutes with a smartphone so close to their eyes.
And kids are kids. They are more vulnerable- and eyes are the most vulnerable part of our body.
What is my kid’s school thinking when they place a smartphone right in front of my kids eyes?I went back to read that email I disregarded. “We are very excited…we have been selected…we are pioneer…”. It’s not that I missed something: the mail never mentioned any precautions. The mail didn’t said: “we have considered that the value of this experience is worth the risk of having a smartphone in his face, an action that no reasonable adult would do”.
The mail didn’t ask me if I agreed to have my son with that smartphone in front of his eyes!
They should have asked me I I was Ok with this! The school makes me sign a consent form when they take him to the theatre, when they go on field trips. They send me a letter when they spray pesticides or talk about sex. They want to make sure theydon’t take any “risk” with my child that I have not approved.
My child safety is my parental responsibility or so I thought. Until someone puts a smartphone in front of his eyes. And everybody thinks it is “so cool” and we are “so lucky” to be in a school that offers these opportunities!
Why didn't they ask me if I was OK with a microwave emitting device in front of my sons eyes?
Why didn't they give me the option to Opt Out or to choose a safer visor for my son?
(And I want to thank my friend, who made me see that the smartphone in front of a child’s eyes is not smart at all.) Feel free to post this on your blog.
Signed
a Montgomery County Maryland Mother.
Imagine the phone placed in front of your child's eyes.
Q: How deeply does this radiation get absorbed into our child's eyes ?
A: Research still needs to be done to understand just what a "safe" level of microwaves to the eye might be. So far, no one knows. Independent research shows increased radiation absorption into children's brains from cell phones because of their smaller heads, thinner skulls and the higher water content in their brain tissues. Government regulations were set using a 220 pound adult male and so our government is not ensuring children are safe even with "legal" exposures.
Look at these slides showing radiation absorption into the brain of a child by a cell phone from a talk by Dr. Devra Davis at the University of Melbourne last week. Watch the full lecture here.
Look at these slides showing radiation absorption into the brain of a child by a cell phone from a talk by Dr. Devra Davis at the University of Melbourne last week. Watch the full lecture here.
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