Researchers in Denmark found that the incidence, the number of brain cancer cases diagnosed, was the same at the end of the study as it was at the beginning, went down, or increased before the large-spread availability of cell phones.

Cell phones have been blamed for brain cancer in previous research, but with a very small increase. The National Cancer Institute has a page on cell phones and brain cancer, where there are explanations about why the fear exists and what types of radiowaves are emitted by cell phones.

One thing to keep in mind is that this study, which was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was done on adults and not children, so it makes no claim as to whether cell phones have an effect on the brain in children. As well, although the period was over 30 years, it could be that the time from when cell phones really became popular hasn’t been long enough to study the long-term effects.

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Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Blisstree

No Brain Tumors with Cell Phones: Study

text messaging image: sxc.hu

Although teachers keep their eyes alert for cell phones (not allowed during school hours in most schools), they often find it difficult to keep up with all the latest texting technology.

In surveys of kids who use cell phones to cheat, some know it’s wrong, but others appear to consider it okay. 

• They may take pictures of notes and text book pages to consult during tests.
• They sometimes text answers back and forth to friends.
• They may take a quick picture of the test and send it to friends who haven’t taken it yet, or to friends who can text them the answers.
• At some national tests, students are asked to leave their cell phones at the door, after it was learned they were sending copies of the tests, via camera phones, to friends in different time zones. 

What do your youngsters think about using cell phones to acquire answers for tests?  To exchange tests and answers with their friends?  To scan notes they shouldn’t be using? 

Have you ever asked them?

Post from: Blisstree

Kids Cheating on Tests by Text Messaging

IMG: sxc.hu

In my son’s school you are allowed to bring cell phones as long as they are kept in your locker during school and do not go off during school hours. We are still unsure if this means he can use them during breaks or not, however we do not allow our son to carry a cell phone on him…at least not yet. With school sports coming we will probably look into it more and simply add the feature where we turn the phone off during school hours and re-activate it once school lets out. Do you do this?

There are a few schools around America that are trying to approach the issue of banning cell phone or not banning them. Some believe “Cell phones are just part of a person,” (KansasCity Star) and that one must figure out how to get around this. By the way this was the principal at a High School in Missouri. They are planning on revising their former ban a bit, instead of a complete shut out of the cell phone they are planning on allowing it during breaks and in between class time as long as they don’t go off during actual class time.

Another school believes in allowing cell phones but they will be confiscated if caught out during classes. If caught more than once, they get in school suspension.  I totally agree with this, I also agree with taking them if you hear them buzz, see them dance or hear them.  Does your school have a ban?

Believe it or not, some are taking this one more step further and this one goes for ALL drivers. Anyone caught using their cell phone within school zones will get heavy fines. So, make sure you aren’t one of those cell phone users that chat on the phone every morning on your way to work if you are going through a school zone area. You wouldn’t want that ticket.

Post from: Blisstree

Cell Phone Bans: Yes or No

Image: sxc.hu

This happened to a Mom in Alabama, who is in jail for dragging her child on a leash.  Granted what and how she was doing it is very questionable, if the video hasn’t been “doctored.”  But if she only had her child on a leash would she have been reported by people who object to children on any type of restraint…even if the restraint is for the child’s safety so he/she doesn’t dash into the street or is grabbed by someone.

Will your neighbors watch your yard and record on how you’re interacting with your children?  Have you been doing this reporting if someone is raising children in ways you don’t agree with, even when no child is harmed?

Are cell phones being used for the purposes they were intended?

Post from: Blisstree

Are Cell Phones Recording Your Parenting?

First, there’s the nudity aspect, which is sure to freak out parents, but teens getting naked, it’s nothing new. I was reading something at Switched today that mentioned a  piece in the National Post quoting Professor Peter Cumming from York University, in Toronto who feels that Sexting is along the same lines as Spin the Bottle.

When I was growing up in rural Northern California, kids did something called “Going In the Barn.” (I was pretty prudish – I so was not going in the barn with anybody.) I’m not going to go into detail, but it had to do with peeping some nudity, and this was back in the mid-to-late 70s. Kids are curious. Couple that with the hormonal drive of your average adolescent and really Sexting makes a sort of disturbing sense.

The biggest problem that I can see with it comes into play when the photos are shared. Someone breaks up with somebody or a phone gets stolen or even borrowed and that’s when something personal and private can become very, very public. And were you aware that some of these kids are being prosecuted as child pornographers?  There’s even the risk of having to register as a sex offender, which I feel is both extreme and nuts.

I’m not saying that I’m cool with Sexting. What I am saying is that kids are kids and sometimes they do stupid and destructive things. And sometimes these destructive things are hormonally driven.  Kids have always had the potential for the stupid and the destructive. Kids today are not necessarily worse than the kids that we grew up with.

Amy Hasinoff, a doctoral candidate from the University of Illinois, feels society is using Sexting as another way to label young girls as bad.

…Ms. Hasinoff argues that just as the courts are missing the point by failing to distinguish between nudity and child pornography, the media are likewise doing more harm than good by portraying a girl’s sexual self-expression as an invitation for sexual harassment.

Harassment, she said, could involve the non-consensual distribution of a private photo by a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, for example.

“The media and society seem to talk about girls as sexually naive and innocent,” she said. “Then as soon as they become active, we deem them as deviant and blame them.”

There’s only so much we can do to protect our kids. Nobody likes to think about their kids having sex or expressing themselves in a sexual way. It’s uncomfortable and in opposition to what we want for our babies, but the reality of is that kids grow up. And they sometimes get naked.

Teach your child to love and respect him or herself. That’s really all you can do, because you can’t be with them 24/7 and one thing you can count on is that sometimes they are going to screw up, but eventually they will be grown-ups and their children will find something new and even more shocking to get self-destructive with.

Post from: Blisstree

Is Sexting Like Spin the Bottle?

The researchers need this type of information to track illnesses and problems, figure out where certain resources need to be focused, and to see if programs are working. If they can’t get a large enough group across the targeted state, the results will be skewed.

Homes  most likely not to have a land line are those with young adults (For example, my 21-year-old son and his room-mate don’t have a land line phone. They use their cells exclusively) and those with very tight budgets. They often figure that they can save by not having a landline and using cells only.

According to this article, Rise in cell phone-only homes could distort health tracking, certain states have a higher cell phone-only population than others. The CDC can’t use cell phones for a few reasons, including cost. People usually have to pay for their minutes used, even if the call is received and they’d likely not be thrilled to spend their money to do a survey. As well, I was thinking that if you call someone on a cell, you don’t know if they’re home, and the chances of them wanting to answer a survey when they’re out are likely quite small.

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Image: MorgueFile

Post from: Blisstree

Cell phones affecting CDC surveys

What’s in your bra?

Image Source: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

What’s in Your Bra?

I was roaming all over the house looking for my phone. Cause, you know, I had pictures on it that I was going to use for about 5 articles.

I was muttering “where is my phone?”

Pone. Zack, the two year old very near death (because I’m about to want to kick his ass), says and hands me my dripping wet phone.

I figure, I’ll be calm what’s done is done, he’s just a baby.

Maybe it will dry out, I think. I take the battery out and leave my broken phone on the counter.

Two seconds later I walk outside and there he is in the baby pool with my phone and the battery and this is what I did:

I got in his face and yelled NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! and then I picked him up and took him to time out.

So what? I still have a broken freaking phone.

This is the THIRD death of phone I’ve had since I was a reluctant cell convert only a year and a half ago. Every single one of them was Kid + WATER related (toilet and shower, now baby pool).

Of course, when I find myself in the presence of my cell phone engineer cousin, all I want to talk about is Why the hell can’t you make a waterproof cell phone?

Because we want you to buy more phones.

I knew it!

So, don’t call me. I can’t call you. I don’t know your phone number. I don’t have it written down. Email me. If you don’t have email – I guess our relationship is over.

Photo source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me (Could anyone want to kick that baby’s ass? Yeah. I could. I have to restrain myself every single time he drowns my F$%^! Phone!)

Post from: Blisstree

Death of Phone