Moving with the times, it’s the lexicon that’s hardest to grasp
SO we’re on our way to becoming the fattest citizens in the EU.
With electronic devices glued to our hands and fast food sales on the rise, it’s only a matter of time before we are all waddling into frozen yoghurt bars and ordering 2000 calorie ‘skinny’ yoghurt sundaes replete with surfeit multi coloured toppings. The warning signs have been there for ages. I mean, the cornerstones of our diet have been butter, pig products, buttery spuds and chocolate for time immemorial.
Irish men now score the highest body mass index (BMI, a key measure of being overweight), in Europe – wahey!, while Irish women rank third in this category, and one in four children in Ireland are classified as overweight or obese.
With all of the medical complications that arise from obesity you’d imagine more would be done by the Government to tackle the issue, considering the inherent costs coming at us down the tracks and don’t come back at me with the sugar tax, it lost its fizz as soon as mineral companies saw the light and concoted sugar free drink products.
One positive step in the right direction was taken by the principal of a school in Kerry where mobile phone use in children is being limited, not only within the school grounds, but also at home on a trial basis. Schools are being ordered to consult with parents and students on the use of smartphones by young people amid safety concerns. The Times Ireland reported on Monday that the Department of Education has issued a circular which requires all primary and secondary schools to put policies in place covering the use of smartphones and tablet devices.
The availability of a handheld computer with a stunningly beautiful screen which does your thinking and entertaining for you is obviously appealing and has been a wonder on those long ‘Are we there yet’ car journeys for many – but the magic genie isn’t easily stuffed back in the bottle, so controls are a good idea.
The circular has called on schools to consider new measures to ‘ensure a shared approach’ on phone use in students’ free time and at home. Richard Bruton, the education minister, said: ‘The use of smartphones and tablet devices by our young people is an area that has increasingly caused concern.’
The number of teens being targeted online, either through peers intent on bullying them, or adults trying to trick them into a date, is frightening.
The Tv was considered a babysitter for parents from the Eighties up to recently, but the tablet and smartphone is now king in many homes, with children ruling the roost. Between gaming and social media many teens spend over five hours a day online and that isn’t even counting hours spent online at school. Last week, in a move that should be welcomed, the Dáil voted to set the digital age of consent at 16 despite advice from many children’s charities that it should be set at 13. Children below the age of consent require parental consent in situations where technology companies offer services such as apps that collect data on their subjects.
Keeping up with the shorthand, coded language teens use online will be another test. Over dinner last week my daughter told me I was her BFF (Best Friend Forever apparently) along with her mother and yesterday, while correcting me on a makey-uppy comment about our upcoming holiday, she used the phrase ‘in point of fact’ Dad.
That’s me told!