[humanser] Separation Anxiety? Taking Cell Phones From Teens

[JD TOWNSEND]

Hi:

Thank you for this NPR story.  As I work with lots of teens this confirmed a 
lot of what I have been seeing.  Interesting study by a blind teen, a 
budding sociologist?


JD Townsend, LCSW
Daytona Beach, Florida, Earth, Sol System
Helping the light dependent to see.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mary Ann Robinson" <brightsmile1953 at comcast.net>
To: "Human Services Mailing List" <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 3:57 PM
Subject: [humanser] Separation Anxiety? Taking Cell Phones From Teens


> Separation Anxiety? Taking Cell Phones From Teens
>  March 19, 2011
>  What happens when you separate teenagers from their cell
> phones? That's the question high school senior Michelle Abi
> Hackman set out to answer -- and her research has won second
> place in the Intel Science Talent Search.  Hackman, who has been
> blind since age eight, explains her results to NPR's Scott Simon.
>  SCOTT SIMON, host: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR
> news.
>  Teenagers have become as devoted to cell phones as they can be
> to gum snapping or Lady Gaga.  They text, talk and leap at the
> bleeble of any possible message from a friend, a parent, or Miley
> Cyrus.  So we were intrigued to learn about a high school senior
> named Michelle Hackman who won second place in the national
> science competition.  She conducted a study to see what happens
> when a teenager is deprived of his or her phone.  She joins us on
> a phone from John L.  Miller Great Neck North High School on Long
> Island.
>  thanks very much for being with us.
>  Ms.  MICHELLE ABI HACKMAN (Winner, Society for Science and the
> Public, Intel Science Talent Search): Thank you so much.
>  SIMON: And what'd you do -- just take cell phones out of your
> friends' hands and start studying them? (Soundbite of laughter)
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: Yeah, I was basing my research off of a market
> research study that basically made the claim that the reason we
> can't separate from our phones is that we become anxious.  And so
> I wanted to see whether and if I were to do that experimentally;
> if I were to take votes away from kids, if I would see that sort
> of jitteriness.
>  SIMON: And?
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: And I actually found something a little bit
> different, but I think almost as intuitive.  I found addictive
> tendencies in my subjects.  They almost went through withdrawal
> symptoms.  And the way that I like to explain that is that cell
> phones and other sorts of technology are very inherently
> stimulating.  And so when you take them away, a kid becomes
> under-simulated and almost doesn't know how to entertain himself.
>  SIMON: Oh.  How did you observe?
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: I used the biofeedback meter.  I basically
> observed levels of stimulation.  And I literally saw that
> subjects who had phones taken away from them experienced
> decreases in their stimulation.
>  SIMON: Now, I have been told you're blind.
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: Yes.
>  SIMON: How does that affect your feelings for cell phones or
> how you conducted the study? (Soundbite of laughter)
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: I think that the one way that it really did play
> in, is that I couldn't actually conduct the study myself, because
> a lot of the readings on the biofeedback meter, I couldn't take
> myself.  And so I actually gathered a team of other students to
> administer the study for me.
>  When we talk about science on a high school level, the most
> important thing is independence.  So you've done the research
> yourself.  But when you actually look at professional scientists,
> they're coming up with experiments.  But then they spend most of
> their time writing grants and then they hand the actual
> experiments off to their -- pretty much their grad students and
> their post-docs.
>  And so scientists need to be able to work well with a team.
> And I'm lucky that I've had that experience.
>  SIMON: You won $75,000?
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: Yes.  (Soundbite of laughter)
>  SIMON: Oh, mercy.  Now you just can't take that and have a
> whole big party, right?
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: No, the Intel Science Talent Search sends it
> straight off to college.
>  SIMON: Yes.  So what are you going to do? What are your plans?
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: I'm going to go to Yale in the fall to study
> psychology and I'm hoping to bring the cell phone research with
> me.
>  SIMON: Well, Ms.  Hackman, all sorts of good luck to you.
> Thanks very much.
>  Ms.  HACKMAN: Thank you so much.
>  SIMON: Michelle Hackman, high school senior in Long Island.
>  This is NPR news.
>  Copyright B) 2011 National Public RadioB..  All rights
> reserved.
> _______________________________________________
> humanser mailing list
> humanser at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/humanser_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> humanser:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/humanser_nfbnet.org/43210%40bellsouth.net
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1498/3518 - Release Date: 03/20/11
>