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Moral Truths - Virtual society's shift from moral truths to immoral acts against children

  

By Cris Rowan.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was quoted as saying "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children". As a pediatric occupational therapist, I am increasingly concerned about a growing disinterest by adults regarding declines in child health and wellness. What we knew to be true and evidenced based practice for raising, educating, and providing therapy for children seems to have gone by the wayside, replaced now by the ubiquitous technological device. Apps, video games, You Tube, and TV are now guiding our children, not adults, in home, school and even in clinic settings. Responding to a text, posting a picture on Facebook, or sneaking in a bit of porn or video games into the work day has so overtaken today's adults, that they are scarcely looking at, much less caring for children. How, in just the past decade, has society grown to covet being with their devices more than their children? .

  

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Cris in the News

 

Call to Action

Open letter to all daycares, preschools, and schools who continue to use wireless radiation.

 

Cris Rowan calls on all principals, staff, school boards, education government, and health officials to consider the guiding principles regarding wireless radiation, and make the decision to revert to Ethernet cabled only devices to ensure immediate and ongoing safety for students and staff.

 

Click here to see letter 

  

Television


 

Interview with Cris Rowan by Nicole Lampa, CTV Kitchener, about the negative side effects technology is having on our "touch screen generation".

 

Click here to see interview

 

 

 

 

 

Newspapers

 

 

Huffington Post has recorded over 2.2 million Facebook likes for Cris Rowan's article 10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12.

 

Click here to see the article.  

Foundation Series Workshop Schedule

 

June 13, 2015 - Los Angeles California

Workshop for OT, PT, SLP, Psych on impact of technology on children sponsored by Pediatric Therapy Network.

Contact: Chantelle Bernier bern9604@pacificu.edu  971-226-7065

 

July 20, 2015 - Guayaquil Ecuador

Workshop and performance art show on the impact of technology on children.

Contact: Carolina Baez cbaez@maidreams.com  + 593-99-968-0286

 

August 26-28, 2015 - Inuvik, NWT
Presentation for teachers on impact of technology on children.

Contact person: Theresa Hartley Theresa_Hartley@bdec.learnnet.nt.ca 867-777-7421

 

October 18 - November 8, 2015 - Istanbul, Italy, Danube

Workshops for professionals and parents on impact of technology on children sponsored by Young Presidents Organization.

Contact person: Denise Johnsen djohnsen@ypowpo.org + 49.176.878.27621

 

January 12, 2016 - Dublin Ireland

Workshops for professionals and parents on impact of technology on children sponsored by Young Presidents Organization.

Contact person: Denise Johnsen djohnsen@ypowpo.org + 49.176.878.27621

 

January 16, 2016 - Scotland

Workshops for professionals and parents on impact of technology on children sponsored by Young Presidents Organization.

Contact person: Denise Johnsen djohnsen@ypowpo.org + 49.176.878.27621

 

February 26, 2016 - Cross Currents Conference, Vancouver, BC
Workshop for special education teachers on impact of technology on children.
Contact person: Mary Speaker seaspeakers@gmail.com 

Research and News Review

 

Childhood Development

 

Preschoolers' playtime needs to be more active

CBC News Video May 18, 2015

Children aged three to five in Canada and the U.S. aren't moving enough for their healthy development, but a scientist in Ottawa is working with daycares to foster more hops, skips and jumps. 

 

Just 1.5 Hours of TV a Day May Disrupt Kids' Sleep, Study Says

HealthDay News March 10, 2014

Kids who watch as little as 1.5 hours of TV a day may get less sleep than those who don't watch as much television, according to a study from Spain.

 

Tech Addictions & Psychotropic Meds

 

Scientific Community Finally Admits What CCHR Has Said for Decades: No Medical Tests Exist for Mental Disorders

By Kelly Patricia O'Meara June 2014
CCHR has been fighting for decades to expose the fraud of psychiatric diagnosing and to educate people that there are no tests which can confirm psychiatric disorders as a disease or medical illness. Now, even leading psychiatrists are writing exactly this in the Huffington Post.

 

Social Media & Mobile Technology

  

Berkeley, CA - Cell Phone Warnings
CTV National News Sunday May 17th, 2015
"Warning Labels on Cell Phones" looking at the new law passed in Berkeley California and how it relates to Canadians.

 

Smartphone Use While Driving Grows Beyond Texting to Social Media, Web Surfing, Selfies, Video Chatting 

AT&T Press Release May 19, 2015

7-in-10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving. Texting and emailing are still the most prevalent. But other smartphone activity use behind the wheel is now common. Among social platforms, Facebook tops the list, with more than a quarter of those polled using the app while driving. About 1-in-7 said they're on Twitter behind the wheel. 

AT&T will expand the It Can Wait® campaign from a focus on texting while driving to include other smartphone driving. 

 

How Smartphones Affect Kids at School

By Esther Crain May 19, 2015

Can you boost your child's test scores by taking away her phone during school hours? That's the suggestion of a new study, which found that kids who attend schools that had recently enacted smartphone bans did better on tests-especially if they were struggling academically in the first place.

 

Yes, That Screen Time's Bad for Your Kid 

By DocBastard, May 26, 2015 The Daily Beast

Parents today are experimenting on their children just like parents of every other generation did. The major difference is that it was significantly easier for our parents to turn off the television and ban them from our bedrooms. Cellphones and tablets are much more portable, and much more versatile.

 

Humans have shorter attention span than goldfish, thanks to smartphones 

By Leon Watson May 15, 2015 The Telegraph UK

A Microsoft study highlights the deteriorating attention span of humans, saying it has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds.

 

Nearly 200 scientists warn of cellphone health risks 

Published on RT.com May 13, 2015

The scientists are from 39 nations and have authored 2,000 peer-reviewed papers on the health and biological effects of non-ionizing radiation, which is part of the electromagnetic field spectrum. In a letter, they say that devices like cellphones pose risks of cancer, genetic damage, changes in reproductive system, and learning and memory deficits. 

 

Video Games & Porn

 

Video game link to psychiatric disorders suggested by study

By Haroon Siddique May 20, 2015 The Guardian UK

People who regularly play action video games could be at increased risk of developing neurological and psychiatric disorders, a study suggests.

  

Straw Man 

The guy behind the Stanford prison experiment claims video games and porn are destroying men.

By Amanda Hess May 13, 2015

In 1971, the psychologist Phillip Zimbardo spearheded the Stanford prison experiment to show how the hierarchy of the penitentiary sysyen could turn otherwise reasonable men into monsters. Now, Zimbardo has identified a new threat to mankind: the internet. Excessive video game use and porn consumption, Zimbardo says. is turning modern young men into limp, loveless losers.

   

Detoxing & Unplugging

 

Five Phone Apps That Will Keep You Off Your Phone

By Stephen Pulvirent May 29, 2015

We're all addicted to those little pieces of glass that sit in our pockets and bags (and, too often, on the dinner table). It's just a fact. But that doesn't mean you have to give in to the constant temptation without a fight. There are piles of apps for both iOS and Android that help ease the pain, turning off your phone's most distracting features and rewarding you for time spent away from the screen.

 

Chasing the Right "Likes" 

By Joshua Becker May 22, 2015

Recently, it seems, we have begun to distort this internal need. We still desire to be noticed, but nowadays, with the advent of social media, we desire "likes," and "retweets," and "comments," and "views" and "clicks." We refresh our Instagram or Facebook page minutes after posting a photo or status update just to see how many other people have clicked a heart or thumbs-up.

 

This Behavior Could Mean You're A Digital Addict

CBSLA Video May 7, 2015

Are you a digital addict? 

  

Education Technology

 

Teachers using pens and paper in the classroom "not fair" to students, Microsoft official says 

By Stephen Hui May 15th, 2015

Pens and paper have no place in the modern classroom. And chalkboards? They should be banished from our schools too, according to Lia De Cicco Remu, director of Partners in Learning at Microsoft Canada.

 

l Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance 

By Louis-Philippe Beland, Richard Murphy, May 2015 Published by LSE Centre for Economic Performance

This paper investigates the impact of schools banning mobile phones on student test scores. 

 

Tech Radiation

 

"Riding Representatives" 

Wendy Cockburn, Director of Citizens for Safe Technology is requesting volunteers from regions through out Canada to help get the word about the detrimental impact of wireless radiation on human health. These volunteers are called "Riding Representatives" and further information can be obtained at the following link http://www.c4st.org/riding-representatives.

 

Jury out on harm from wireless devices; experts preach caution 

By Sheryl Ubelacker, The Canadian Press May 5, 2015
It's not clear whether wireless devices are harmful for your health. But Health Canada has recommendations to reduce your radiofrequency risk.

 

Is Wi-Fi making your child ill? 

By Florence Waters May 9, 2015 Telegraph UK
As France bans Wi-Fi in nursery and primary schools, a British expert who has given up using wireless gadgets says we should do the same.

 

A Story of Risk: Wireless Tech

Podcast from KPFA 'Your Own Health and Fitness' show hosted by Layna Berman May 19, 2015

Author, educator and story teller, Katie Singer explores the advancement of wireless technology by telling the story of a physicist and electrical engineer who has been betrayed by the very technologies he devoted his life to. Her book is An Electronic Silent Spring.

 

Science Project Finds Plants Won't Grow Near Wi-Fi Router

Published on line May 24, 2013

Five ninth-grade young women from Denmark recently created a science experiment that is causing a stir in the scientific community.
 

Calming Behavior in Children with Autism and ADHD - The Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)-Lowering Protocol

By Katie Singer 2014 

Toril Jelter, MD, general practitioner since 1985, pediatrician since 1990 says "My first approach for children with autism is to offer families a two-week electromagnetic radiation (EMR) reduction trial."
 

Wifi in Australia Schools

It's time for Australian parents, caregivers, teachers, students and the wider community to pay attention to the warnings about the health risks from exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from wireless technologies.  Education authorities need to urgently evaluate the long-term risks and take effective precautionary steps to help reduce exposure to children and staff.
 

Canadian website Parents for Safe Technology on electrical hypersensitivity

Allergic to Wireless?

Headaches from your iPhone?

Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity is a growing health issue.

 

Ontario Catholic teachers union issues Wi-Fi warning

By Kristy Kirkup, Parliamentary Bureau First published Feb 13, 2012 Toronto Sun

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, which represents 45,000 teaches, issued a research paper highlighting some of their concerns surrounding Wi-Fi technology. 

 

Microwave radiation dangers in your home 

6 min. film demonstrates how WiFi connects your laptop, iPhone and iPad to the internet via microwave radiation. 

 

Wireless Education Action (WEA) website to promote removal of wifi from schools

WEA categorically rejects the unethical use of Wi-Fi in schools where our most vulnerable population- our children- relies on safe and healthy practices in order to grow and learn in a toxin free environment.

 

Miscellaneous

 

Little Kids, Big Questions: A Parenting Podcast Series From ZERO TO THREE

Hosted by Ann Pleshette Murphy
12 podcasts for parents of children under 3 years.
 
 

Be aware of evolutionary/ecological traps 

By Erik Peper May 16, 2015

Blog that explores one of the mechanisms by which we make unhealthy life choices and discusses "What you can do!". 

 

Resources

 

Books

 

Man (Dis)Connected: How Technology Has Sabotaged What it Means to be Male

By Philip Zimbardo & Nikita D. Coulombe Published May 7, 2015

Young men are failing as never before - academically, socially and sexually. But why is this so? What are the implications? And what needs to be done about it before it's too late?.

 

How video games can be an educational tool
By T. Rees Shapiro May 29, 2015
T. Rees Shapiro reports on education for The Washington Post and gives his opinion on: The Game Believes in You; How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter, by Greg Toppo.
Zone'in Products

Sedentary, neglected, isolated, and overstimulated, the new millennium child can no longer pay attention and learn. Zone'in Products are designed by an occupational therapist to enhance child development and learning, ensuring successful futures.

 

Zone'in - enhancing attention, learning and self-regulation.

Move'in - teaches children to print, the foundation for literacy.

Unplug'in - builds skill and confidence in activities other than technology.

Live'in - media literacy guide for home, school and community.

 

Product Preview  

 

Virtual Child - The terrifying truth about what technology is doing to children

Virtual Child

By Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist.

 
Virtual Child documents the impact technology has had on the developing child, and proposes tools and techniques to manage balance between activities children need for growth and success with technology use. 

Need more info? Visit www.virtualchild.ca

BUY NOW ON Amazon.com 
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About the Author
Cris Rowan is a pediatric occupational therapist committed to enhancing child health and academic performance. Well known activist, speaker, sensory specialist and author, Cris is the "Go To" expert on child learning, development and technology overuse. Cris has provided over 200 workshops for health and education professionals, and is currently developing the Creating Sustainable Futures Program for a First Nations Community.
  
Training & Consultation
 
Training

Instructor training for Foundation Series Workshops places pediatric occupational therapists on the cutting edge as experts in the field of technology's impact on child development.

Zone'in Training


Consultation
Innovative team-based approach to manage balance between activities children need to grow and succeed with technology use.

Cris Rowan is now offering private phone/Skype consultations. 

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