No Phone Friday Urges Families To Unplug
By Marciene Mattleman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Jaclyn Reiss, in The Boston Globe asks readers if they can make it through dinner without checking email or Twitter.
This year is the 13th for Needham Unplugged, a month of events highlighting no TV, no sports, and a no activity-night that includes a one-day homework ban and parents cancelling evening events. But this year was a new challenge: urging families to put away their cell phones and spend more time relaxing and talking - face to face.
While there are no conclusive data, hospital emergency workers have noted more child injuries which they attribute to use of cell phones while parents and caregivers walk and talk.
Yet the phones also serve some good purposes and that's the point of No Phone Friday for families - taking the time to put away electronic devices and start talking, looking at how technology has changed our lives. Needham Unplugged has become part of other communities. Can No Phone Friday become a model?