Nearly 70% teenagers wish to curb smartphone use: Survey
New York, June 22 : While the sales of the smartphone industry may be thriving, nearly 70 per cent of teenagers have attempted to reduce the time they spend on their smartphone, finds a survey.
The survey, conducted by Screen Education -- a US-based non-profit, showed that 65 per cent teenagers wish that they were better able to self-limit the time they spend on their smartphone.
While 26 per cent wish someone would limit the time they spend on their smartphone for them as they are unable to do so themselves, 37 per cent have tried to persuade a friend to reduce the time they spend on their smartphone.
Further, 35 per cent of the teenagers rued that they are unable to do things they ought to because of spending increasing time on their phones, while 41 per cent blamed phones for getting low grades at school.
"It's time for bold action to address teen smartphone addiction. These kids know their phones are compromising so many aspects of their lives, and they want help," said Michael Mercier, President of Screen Education.
"We can find ways to impose reasonable limits on their screen time and cultivate within them the ability to self-limit their screen time. This will require that we transform our cultural norms regarding screen time, which we most certainly can do," he added.
The 46-question survey involved 1,017 teenagers from grades 7-12.
The survey also revealed that 36 per cent teenagers witness online bullying every week, while over 30 per cent have seen online bullying result in physical violence.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
