An Electronic Silent Spring
December, 2015 Newsletter from Katie Singer
www.electronicsilentspring.com
A child gets only one chance at brain development: mobile devices may halt human connectiveness and erode skills. Let’s educate children in a precautionary way as much as possible. Read what teachers report:
** I gave my students iPads. They stopped talking to each other, by Launa Hall
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-gave-my-students-ipads–then-wished-i-could-take-them-back/2015/12/02/a1bc8272-818f-11e5-a7ca-6ab6ec20f839_story.html
** Tablets and smartphones erode teens’ digital literacy An Australian study of 10,500 students found that growing use of mobile devices among children led to a “significant decline” in basic digital literacy within three years. http://www.electronicproducts.com/Education/Student/Report_finds_that_tablets_and_smartphones_are_eroding_teens_digital_literacy.aspx
** Paula Poundstone votes for childrens’ fully-functioning brains on CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paula-poundstone-electronics-and-kids-brains-dont-mix/
** Another way to learn In class, English teacher Cynthia Schulz read Emerson and Thoreau with her students. Then she gave them an assignment: Find a place in nature (your backyard, your town’s watershed, a hiking trail). Leave electronics at home. If your parents won’t let you go without a cell phone, then take it with you and turn it off (to airplane mode) for this exercise. For 20 minutes, sit quietly, notice your thinking and the space around you. With a pen on paper, write down your observations. Do this exercise twice in one week, then once a month. One student wrote about feeling “free for the first time” without a mobile device.
** Developing brains need movement In response to increased prescriptions for anti-psychotic pharmaceutical meds for children, retired teacher Marcia Lee has developed a program that addresses nutrition, reduced-screen-time and movement. https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/pharmatizing-children/
Get informed about the Network Effect An Instagram software engineer explains how design qualities that make an app enthralling may make it difficult to put down. How does the Network Effect affect children? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/technology/personaltech/cant-put-down-your-device-thats-by-design.html?_r=1
Wireless Technologies and Public Health, the October 10, 2015 conference hosted by the Santa Clara Medical Alliance Foundation, has posted videos of speakers: Dr. Joel Moskowitz, Dr. Suruchi Chandra, Dr. Victoria Dunckley, Dr. Toril Jelter, Attorney Loretta Lynch, Dr. Martin Pall, Katie Singer, Peter Sullivan: http://www.saferemr.com/2015/10/wireless-technology-public-health-forum.html
Katie Singer interviewed Ed Friedman about his work with the Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters and with GUARDS (Global Union Against Radiation Deployment from Space) on an Occupy teleconference, December 17, 2015. It’s time to get informed about plans for global Wi-Fi.
https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/ed-friedman-occupy/
http://www.mainecoalitiontostopsmartmeters.org/
www.stopglobalwifi.org
As people read less, cartoons grab attention. Check out my new page: https://www.facebook.com/radianttimescartoons
Resources and Newsletters about EMR Exposure
Applied physicist Dr. Ronald M. Powell has written papers about smart meters, and another about wireless technologies and children:
https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/ron-powell-smart-meters/
http://www.emraware.com/newsletter_december_january_2015-16.html comes from Australia
Want copies of An Electronic Silent Spring? Despite amazon.com claims, the book is in print. If you order a copy there, you’ll receive it. http://www.amazon.com/An-Electronic-Silent-Spring-Creating/dp/1938685083
If you’d like ten or more copies, I can pass on the discount that my publisher extends to me. Depending on your locale, this translates to a 30 – 35% discount in the cover price ($18), including shipping. Please contact me directly if you’d like to order a box of books: katie @ katiesinger. com
Thanks to everyone who’s getting informed about the dangers of wireless technologies and reducing their electronics usage and EMR-emissions.
If you find this newsletter helpful, please help keep it going.
https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/donate/
To 2016; to healthier communities and ecosystems,
Katie Singer
www.electronicsilentspring.com