Are Texting Parents Causing the Increase in Child Injuries?

Is high-tech gadgetry diminishing the ability of adults to give proper supervision to very young children? According to a Wall Street Journal article, the theory is this: the near-ubiquity of handheld electronic devices are one possible reason why injury rates for young kids have been on the rise lately — as in, a 12 percent increase between 2007 and 2010.

The article raises some truly disturbing connections between “device distraction” and childhood injuries or even deaths. Read it here.

Setup Ideas:

• Mine for stories by asking listeners: “What happened to your child while you were on your cell phone?”

• Should cell phones be banned from the playground?

• Have one player on the show make a lightning rod statement. For example, “Parents who text and check email at the playground are bad parents.”