April, 18 2013, 12:15pm EDT
Screen-Free Week is April 29 - May 5, 2013!
Kids, families, schools, and communities pledge to spend 7 days unplugged
BOSTON
Children are spending way too much time with screens--and it's not good for them. Did you know?
- School-age children spend more time with screen media--television, video games, computers, and hand-held devices--than in any other activity but sleeping.
- Screen media use is at an all-time high among preschoolers--according to Nielsen, young children spend, on average, more than 32 hours a week watching just television.
- Screen time is habit forming and linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, poor sleep habits, and attention problems.
- 64% of children ages 12 to 24 months watch TV and videos for an average of just over 2 hours a day--even though the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends discouraging screen time for children under 2.
For these reasons and more, so many leading health, education, and childcare organizations actively support this year's Screen-Free Week (April 29 - May 5, 2013), the annual celebration where children, families, schools, and communities turn off screens for entertainment and turn on life. Endorsers include the National Head Start Association, National WIC Association, KaBOOM!, the US Play Coalition, the National Black Child Development Institute, and the American Public Health Association.
"Such wide-ranging support for Screen-Free Week reflects the growing national consensus that kids spend too much time with television, video games, apps, and computers," said Dr. Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the official home of Screen-Free Week. "More screen time means less time for hands-on play, reading, playing outside, exploring nature and dreaming--activities crucial to a healthy, happy childhood."
Since 1996, millions of children and their families have participated in Screen-Free Week (formerly TV Turnoff). Each year, thousands of parents, teachers, PTA members, librarians, scoutmasters, and clergy organize Screen-Free Weeks in their communities. Here are just a few of the upcoming festivities:
- The Early Years Institute is hosting free and discounted events all over Long Island, New York, including a petting zoo, storytimes, visits to natural outdoor classrooms, a family game show, a ping pong tournament, an American folklore concert, bird watching, and more.
- The Greater Gallatin United Way in Montana has organized a full schedule, including a kids' bike ride and obstacle course, a tour for tots of the Museum of the Rockies, an afternoon of theater games, a family swim night, and group hike.
- In Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania, children and families can have fun and get active with the Parks & Recreation's free evening events, including a night of roller skating and a "fun run" in the park.
- Over the Rainbow Toys in Anchorage, Alaska is holding free "crafternoons." Children and their parents will enjoy arts and crafts activities of all kinds, from painting to robot building.
- The Early Childhood Alliance in Fort Wayne, Indiana has organized a week of fun family activities including games and healthy cooking lessons.
"Children's health, well-being, and relationships with friends and family are threatened when they spend most of their leisure time with screens," said Dr. Linn. "Screen-Free Week is a perfect opportunity to break the screen habit and have fun embracing a happier, healthier lifestyle."
Here's what other experts and advocates are saying about Screen-Free Week:
"New life is returning to the earth! Look up from your screens to see the pale green buds. Pull out your earbuds and listen to the breeze. Turn off your devices and reconnect with the earth, with each other, and with the still, small voice inside that is you. Screen-Free Week is an opportunity to reset our attention, to refresh our minds and souls, and to recreate ourselves in relation to all that we value."
- Dr. Michael Rich
Director, Center on Media and Child Health
"Screen-Free Week is a wonderful way for parents, schools and communities to reduce the time children spend watching TV and playing with the computers and video games and help them engage in activities that promote healthier growth and development. Today, children spend far too much time with screens. Excessive screen time is harmful for children--it's linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, attention problems, and the erosion of creative play."
- Dana E. Friedman, Ed.D.
President, the Early Years Institute
"The amount of time children spend in front of a screen directly competes with active play, which is proven to develop a child's overall physical, creative and social skills. Kids need time to play every day, in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. Screen Free Week reminds us--adults and children alike--to reclaim that time and go outside and play."
- Stephanie Bowen
Director, KaBOOM!
"Embracing Screen-Free Week is an outstanding way to refocus on strengthening family relationships and creating healthy lifestyles. Medical conditions related to childhood obesity and inactivity are increasing at an alarming rate. Let's work together to reverse the trend. Why not take this week to enjoy outdoor activities, observe nature, shop for healthy ingredients and prepare a nutritious meal together as a family? Great childhood memories come from having dinner together, playing a board game together, or simply chatting, not from sitting in front of a TV. Screen-Free Week is an ideal time to build social skills, encourage creativity and simply play...all habits that will last a lifetime."
- Sandra York
Executive Director, Michigan PTSA
"Screen-Free Week helps American children, families, schools and communities shift their focus from passive screen-watching to activities that help us all become healthier and more fit. Screen-Free Week is in sync with the growing realization that physical activity promotes individual health and well-being, builds community and reduces health-care costs. It also makes for family fun and interaction. Let's all click off and move more--not just during Screen-Free Week, but every day!"
- Dan Henkel
Senior Director of Communication and Advocacy, American College of Sports Medicine
These and more quotes, as well as images for promotional use, can be found at https://www.screenfree.org/press.html.
Fairplay, formerly known as Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, educates the public about commercialism's impact on kids' wellbeing and advocates for the end of child-targeted marketing. Fairplay organizes parents to hold corporations accountable for their marketing practices, advocates for policies to protect kids, and works with parents and professionals to reduce children's screen time.
LATEST NEWS
'My Child Is Human': Palestinian American Mother Disrupts Austin Testimony
"Secretary Austin, why are you denying Israel's genocide in Gaza?" advocates asked the defense secretary at a hearing.
Apr 17, 2024
A week after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that the U.S. has no "evidence of genocide being created" in Gaza, peace activists disrupted the Pentagon chief's testimony on the Biden administration's 2025 budget request and demanded he acknowledge the humanity of Palestinian children.
"My child is human!" said Nasbeebah Hajjaj, a Palestinian-American woman who held up her 16-month-old son, Hamza. "Stop killing Palestinian children!"
The anti-war group CodePink said Hajjaj immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was two months old, and has lost approximately 20 family members to Israel's bombardment of Gaza since October.
The group targeted Austin's testimony a month after the Biden administration released its 2025 budget request—a proposal that includes $1.1 trillion in military-related spending. Despite growing calls from U.S. lawmakers and rights advocates, the White House has not announced conditions for military aid to Israel, which has been widely accused of human rights violations as it has assaulted Gaza and blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians.
Israel's bombardment has killed at least 33,899 Palestinians so far, and more than two dozen people have died of starvation in recent months as international experts have warned parts of northern Gaza are facing famine.
At least 13,000 children have been killed, and the United Nations reported in February that 70% of those killed overall have been women and children—even as Israel and the U.S. have insisted Israeli forces are targeting Hamas.
The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in January saying Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza, and lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have expressed support for the ruling—but the U.S. has dismissed the court's findings, including at Austin's hearing last week.
While Hajjaj held up her son at Wednesday's hearing, another protester, identified by CodePink as Helen, addressed the defense secretary.
"Secretary Austin, why are you denying Israel's genocide in Gaza? Why are you denying genocide in Gaza?" said Helen, who was arrested after being led out of the hearing. "The whole world sees it! You know the laws of war! You know you have blood on your hands! You have blood on your hands! We have blood on our hands."
The advocates chanted, "Shame on you!" as they were led out of the hearing room.
Outside the hearing room, Hajjaj emphasized that the Biden administration has "the power to stop" Israel's attacks on Gaza by cutting off its military aid—of which the U.S. is the largest international supplier. The Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that the U.S. cannot provide military funding to countries that block American humanitarian aid.
"They just want to continue to arm death and destruction," said Hajjaj.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Report Sounds Alarm Over Growing Role of Big Tech in US Military-Industrial Complex
The paper's author found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
Apr 17, 2024
The center of the U.S. military-industrial complex has been shifting over the past decade from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to Northern California—a shift that is accelerating with the rise of artificial intelligence-based systems, according to a report published Wednesday.
The report—entitledHow Big Tech and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex—was authored by Roberto J. González, a professor of cultural anthropology at San José State University, for the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs.
The new paper comes amid the contentious rise of AI-powered lethal autonomous weapons systems, or killer robots; increasing reliance upon AI on battlefields from Gaza to Ukraine; and growing backlash from tech workers opposed to their companies' products and services being used to commit or enable war crimes.
"Although much of the Pentagon's $886 billion budget is spent on conventional weapon systems and goes to well-established
defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing, and BAE Systems, a new political economy is emerging, driven by the imperatives of big tech companies, venture capital (VC), and private equity firms," González wrote.
"As Defense Department officials have sought to adopt AI-enabled systems and secure cloud computing services, they have awarded large multibillion-dollar contracts to Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle," he added. "At the same time, the Pentagon has increased funding for smaller defense tech startups seeking to 'disrupt' existing markets and 'move fast and break things.'"
The report highlights the rise of a new class of billion-dollar military contractors, "a combination of gargantuan tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and hundreds of smaller, pre-IPO startup companies supported by VC firms."
"The use of drones and AI-enabled weapons systems in Ukraine and Gaza, and a feared AI arms race with China, have fueled the
Pentagon's heavy investment in advanced digital tech," González wrote.
A lack of transparency is obscuring the true value of some of the largest military contracts to tech companies.
"One estimate indicates that U.S. military and intelligence agencies awarded at least $28 billion to Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) between 2018 and 2022," the report states. "The actual value of these contracts is likely much higher, because many of the largest known contracts with U.S. tech companies are classified and withheld from public procurement databases."
González found that the five largest military contracts to major tech firms between 2018 and 2022 "had contract ceilings totaling at least $53 billion combined."
"Major tech firms are also awarded large subcontracts from relatively obscure intermediaries or 'passthrough' companies that are granted primary contracts from the Pentagon—evading scrutiny and analysis," the paper adds.
González said that multi-year software-as-a-service contracts "could make the Pentagon and CIA more dependent than ever on the expertise of technical experts from the private sector."
The risk of conflicts of interest increases as military-dependent tech companies go public.
"As just one example, since going public, more than half of Palantir Technologies' revenue has come from the federal government," the report states. "Recent Palantir contracts with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the Air Force are worth more than $900 million. Palantir stock rose more than 170% in 2023."
There's also the danger of a "revolving door" between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon as many senior government officials "are now gravitating towards defense-related VC or private equity firms as executives or advisers after they retire from public service."
"The traditional 'revolving door' meant that a former defense official might accept an executive position with traditional weapons manufacturers; there are more lucrative options now," González wrote. "At least 50 former defense officials are working in VC and private equity, leveraging their connections with current officials or members of Congress to advance beneficial legislation for defense tech firms in their firms' investment portfolios."
"The implications are significant: The new 'revolving door' will accelerate military and intelligence agency funding for early-stage defense tech startups," the report states.
González details how "overblown, inaccurate, ideological talking points are driving defense funding for Big Tech," including "grandiose claims about the effectiveness of artificial intelligence; the overestimation of China's military and technological capabilities; the idea that America has the ability and duty to protect the world's democratic societies; and a steadfast belief that the best way to preserve U.S. dominance is through a free market that prioritizes corporate needs."
"These perspectives boost demand for military AI, and are promoted by a network of tech executives, venture capitalists, think tank analysts, academic researchers, journalists, and Pentagon leaders," he wrote.
Finally, the report warns that "aggressive Big Tech business models" can rush the development of weapons, endangering both combatants and civilians.
"Members of the armed services and civilians are in danger of being harmed by inadequately tested—or algorithmically flawed—AI-enabled technologies," the paper states. "By nature, VC firms seek rapid returns on investment by quickly bringing a product to market, and then 'cashing out' by either selling the startup or going public. This means that VC-funded defense tech companies are under pressure to produce prototypes quickly and then move to production before adequate testing has occurred."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'A Big, Big Deal': Chattanooga Volkswagen Workers Begin Voting in Key Union Election
"Looking back, you could see this being the first domino in something that changes the entire South," said one labor journalist.
Apr 17, 2024
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee began voting Wednesday on whether to join the United Auto Workers, a closely watched election seen as a critical test for the emboldened union's ability to organize in the U.S. South.
The election kicked off a month after workers at the Chattanooga plant filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) formally requesting an election to join the UAW, which secured record-breaking contracts at the Big Three U.S. automakers last year after a historic six-week strike.
Following the hard-fought contract victories, the UAW launched what's been described as the largest union organizing drive in modern U.S. history, targeting nonunion car manufacturers such as Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen.
The Chattanooga election marks the third time in a decade that the UAW has tried to organize the Volkswagen plant, which currently has around 4,300 workers. Voting concludes on Friday.
"This election is a big, big deal—probably the most important union election that this country has seen in years," labor journalist Hamilton Nolan said in a Democracy Now! appearance on Wednesday. "Looking back, you could see this being the first domino in something that changes the entire South."
About 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Tennessee are voting on whether to unionize with the United Auto Workers. Labor journalist @hamiltonnolan says it's the most important union vote in years and could be the "first domino" in a wider push to organize the auto industry in the South. pic.twitter.com/RWFnO5KznI
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 17, 2024
Chattanooga workers voiced confidence that this election will be different than 2014 and 2019, when Volkswagen employees voted against joining the UAW by narrow margins.
"We're going to win," Lisa Elliott, a quality control worker at Volkswagen, toldThe Guardian's Steven Greenhouse. "We have the momentum. I know this will be a historic event."
In addition to the Chattanooga effort, the UAW is trying to organize Mercedes-Benz workers in Vance, Alabama. Earlier this month, a supermajority of Mercedes workers in Vance submitted a petition to the NLRB requesting an election to join the UAW.
UAW's organizing efforts have drawn national attention—and ire from anti-union politicians, including the Republican governors of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and other states in the U.S. South.
Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, told Greenhouse that "a victory at Volkswagen would make a victory at Mercedes much more likely."
"Victories at both Volkswagen and Mercedes would be nothing less than an earthquake," McCartin added. "This would be the biggest breakthrough in private-sector organizing in decades. It would mean that the anti-union citadel [in the South] that has repulsed effort after organizing effort has been breached."
University of California, Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken echoed that assessment in an interview with The New York Times.
"It would be a revolution for the UAW and for the auto industry," Shaiken said of a UAW win. "It would break the glass ceiling for unions in the South, and would mean more purchasing power for working-class people in that region."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular