Age is not the deciding factor with this current scenario.. plenty of adults experience the same lack of attention span when using mobile devices.. driving, walking, jogging, bike riding.. it makes no difference..

A discussion on what age are youth old enough to be mature enough to handle such devises will be IMO problematic at best.. as maturity really is not age specific.. I've met plenty of folks middle aged who act about as mature if not less than my youngest teen..

I do however believe education to Kid's of "all" ages the dangers of tech when improperly used is imperative.. too many weirdos out there to put on blinders and pretend everything's fine..

Thank you WebGizmos, there are always parts of our life that we fail to realize that we give up without even knowing we have that we can never get back.  Something to think about.  

I can remember back in the 70's when eveyone on the morning commuter trains had their heads stuck in the morning paper rather than talk to someone.

Not a lot has changed.... instead they are fiddling with mobile phones or tablets these days.... rather than talk to somebody.

And here on these forums... a handful of regular posters and 1000's of lurkers feeding off what's been said.

For mine, when someone can't even ackowledge that you're there and can't even be bothered to speak to you out of simple courtesy, well that's when you just kick 'em in the nuts and move on... a consideration that has crossed my mind yet again.

Having lost my 7 year old daughter to some distracted 16 year old idiot in 1994, that video actually brought tears to my eyes Giz.

If only we, the human race, would put down our technological devices more often than we use them, the world might be a better place.

So sorry to hear that, Tom - please accept my condolences. Didn't know. 

I live near a prep school, and the kids act the same way. Practically lining up at the crosswalk like lemmings waiting their turn to get mowed down. Yea, these kids may be academic achievers, but they have zero sense of self preservation.

They might not be mature enough to use it responsibly well into adulthood.  I can't tell you how many times I've passed a weaving car to find someone texting or seen an adult walking oblivious to their surroundings with their nose in a smartphone.  Or for that matter having a loud conversation via mobile device in a small enclosed space like a coffee shop.

It's the parents. They have a syndrome which makes them believe they are right, everyone else is wrong, and their kids are wonderful and don't need correcting.

Here's a good example. I went out for a drive today. Near me is a narrow but open country road. I passed some cyclists - two parents, and two kids, probably about 7-8 years old. I went past slowly, but, this road has a 60mph speed limit. What are parents thinking taking small children cycling on a road like that?

You see parents like this all the time, full of their own self importance and 'correctness'. When they speak to the child, they usually speak in the third person and in an over corrected form of English "Daddy said not to do that". That self importance is branded onto the child who then grows up with a sense of entitlement and a false belief that they are responsible adults.

First thing....I'm sorry to hear about your daughter Tom...I can almost imagine what you went through.

As far as these damn phones...and I'm sure I'll get flack for saying this...but they are turning people into morons/zombies/unsociables. And I never understood the texting crap...the phone has a speaker and microphone...use them already! Even computers are turning people unsociable....and no...I don't consider things like facebook to be social in any way. I honest;y feel that the best thing that cold happen to us is for the phones and computers to just go down...forcing people to interact like we once did.

And TV's are just as bad. If it weren't for the health problem I have I wouldn't be watching TV at all more than likely. All I see anymore are dumb ass "reality" which aren't and a million commercials for how obsolete the phone you bought last is. I can literally feel my IQ falling through my feet even seeing them for a few seconds. I've worn all the numbers ans letters off my controller from turning channels to avoid all the dumb crap on TV. And that should follow right along with the TV and phones. I'd be willing to bet society would come back to normal in no time if that happened.

OOPS

Agreed.