smartphones

As many as 4 in 10 Americans are addicted to the internet, impacting their relationships, safety and mental health.

Recent data suggests nearly half of us are addicted to our smart phones. "Nomophobia" is a real thing, and here are the symptoms and potential solutions to healthier smartphone usage.

We are now 3 days in to our No TV, Smartphone, Electronics Challenge.  The rule is when we get home, the screens go off.  Man, I've done a lot of stuff the last couple nights.

I told you yesterday about a challenge that our son's school PTA program started.  It's called PTA TV Turnoff week and it also includes items like smartphones, tablets, and video games.  Well we finished day 1 and it was quite a change from our normal routine.

Our kindergartner has a challenge at school that is taking place starting today.  It's called "No Screen Week."   It encourages kids to do other things than watch TV, play video games, or stare at a kindle.  It sounded like a great idea until my wife said I wasn't allowed screens either.

In an effort to provide a safer community the Duluth Police Department launched tip411.  It's an internet based tool that will allow the public to text message "tips" to the police.  The individual sending the message will remain anonymous and the police will be able to respond thus creating a two way chat.

This is kinda old news, but it's making the rounds again on Facebook and other social media.   If you take pictures and post them to Facebook on your smartphone, you may be giving away the location of where you live or where you took the photo.   This is especially frightening to people with children.

Cathy and I were talking this morning about how people are so distracted by smartphones, tablets, etc.   It seems like we spend so much of our lives staring at screens and hardly looking at each other.  It's also not really considered quality family time either when all of you are staring at your smartphones, so my wife and I came up with the "No Screen Day" idea.