A group of parents in Colorado is now looking to ban the sale of smartphones to Children less than 13 Years of age. The group has the backing of several state officials who have now prepared it for a proposed ballot measure. The legislation is meant to be included on the 2018 ballot. However, the move still needs to accumulate over 300,000 voter signatures before it makes it to the ballot.
Concerned parents
The group that backed the new proposal is the Parents Against Underage Smartphones. The group was originally formed by concerned parents who wanted to find a legal way to ban retailers from selling smartphones to young children.
A representative from the group explained that no good could come from allowing children to possess smartphones at such as a young age. Some parents have revealed that smartphones have directly affected their children’s upbringing with some locking themselves out from the world and their families.
If the legislation is passed into law, retailers would basically need to ask its customers regarding who exactly would be using the device they are buying. Additionally, Retailers would need to submit a monthly report of its sales to the Colorado Department of Revenue as stipulated in the proposal.
Violator penalty
While it would likely be quite easy to circumvent the ban, retailers who are caught selling handsets to pre-teen and children will get varying degrees of punishments.
Stores that are caught for the first time will get a written warning. If the store continues to sell smartphones to children under 13-years old, the store will be fined anywhere from $500 to $20,000.
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Against the ban
Despite the strong initiative from the Colorado group to have the proposal passed into law, some officials don’t really agree with the move.
Democratic State Senator, John Kefalas, explains that the proposal may not be the best way to go about removing smartphones from young children. He explains that he does understand the reasoning behind the proposal but that ultimately the issue is, in fact, a family matter. Parents should apparently be the one to lay down the law within their own households, and it is their responsibility to not put their children at risk from being addicted to their handheld devices.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children should only be allowed no more than one hour of screen time per day until they are 6-years old. As the children grow older, parents should regulate the use of devices so that they do not affect their sleep or their physical activity.