"60 Minutes" Covers Lawyers Who Sued Big Tobacco (and Won) Suing Big Pharma on Opioids. When Will It Big Tech’s Turn for Kids and Screen Addiction?

By B.N. Frank

Earlier this week, 60 Minutes aired a segment about lawyers suing pharmaceutical companies and distributors for their role in creating the national “Opioid Crisis.” Last week, they aired a segment about research proving that kids’ brains are being harmed by screens. In 2017, they aired a segment about tech companies deliberately designing addictive technology. In 2017, they also ran a segment about the role government officials played in creating the “Opioid Crisis.”

In the not-so-distant past, most people blamed opioid addicts for not having enough self-control. As more information was revealed, more people became more compassionate as well as proactive. This led to increased efforts (and funding) to prevent as well as eradicate opioid addiction – including these lawsuits.

In regard to kids and screen addiction – many experts, medical professionals and influential people have already been speaking out against Big Tech and others for creating this problem.

Unfortunately, many still put all the blame on parents for not being able to control their kids. It doesn’t seem fair when, for many years already, there have been medical professionals and other ”experts” endorsing tech for kids. Some are still using it in their practices. Some are still recommending tech use at an early age.

Ridiculously enough, Sesame Street also has a character named “Smartie the Smart Phone” and The New York Public library is downloading childrens’ books on Instagram to encourage kids to read.

The examples of creating and marketing tech for kids to use seems endless – even though research has proven it’s really NOT good for them. Meanwhile – for many years already – the people who make technology (Silicon Valley parents) have been deliberately limiting their own kids’ use of it in their homes as well as at their schools. They are now going to desperate measures to prevent their kids from being exposed to screens (spying on their nannies).

We can’t forget about the American public school systems that were told they had to become “high tech” to better educate kids. As early as kindergarten, kids are forced to use screens in the classroom. They are also forced to use screens for their homework. So how does any of this discourage children from wanting to use screens all the time for everything? And how can anyone put all the blame on parents for the increasing number of children with screen addiction?

Research has also proven that exposure to blue light, cell phone and wireless Wi-Fi radiation, and other Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) from technology is harmful to our brains and the rest of our bodies too – especially children’s. Insurance companies aren’t even covering wireless radiation exposure risks anymore.

The social validation of the “Opioid Crisis,” the government attention, action and funding, and these lawsuits only happened because the growing number of Americans complaining about this could no longer be ignored. The same thing is going to have to happen with kids (and the rest of us) being harmed by the irresponsible implementation and use of new technology if anything is going to change.