By Eric Blaisdell
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MARSHFIELD – Students at Twinfield sat down to talk with a state senator who has proposed a bill that would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to use or possess a cellphone.
The bill, S.212, would make such possession or use a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of a year behind bars and a $1,000 fine.
It said cellphone use while driving is one of the leading killers of teenagers. It also said young people use cellphones frequently to bully and threaten each other, something that has been linked to suicides.
The bill was introduced by Sen. John Rodgers, D-Essex-Orleans. Rodgers has said he introduced the bill to make a point. He doesn’t think it’s going to pass and admits he wouldn’t vote for it himself. He has said the bill was created to make a point about efforts by those in the Legislature looking to enact gun control measures.
The bill made national headlines. It also got the attention of a class of eighth-graders at Twinfield Union School.
The class invited Rodgers to come chat in person on Tuesday.
He told the students the bill was there to make people think about what rights they have that they are willing to give up for safety and security. He said he doesn’t think bans work.
“Bans like drug laws, I point to that one all the time, we’ve had this so-called war on drugs for at least 50 years now and we still have a huge opiate problem in the country as well as many other drugs. So just saying something is illegal doesn’t address the problem. Even if we ban cellphones, it’s already illegal to talk on your cellphone or text when you’re driving, but we know people still do it,” he said.
Rodgers said he wanted to focus the discussion on addressing issues without bans.
The students prepared a few proposals looking at addressing the concerns the bill brings up. For texting while driving, the students suggested making it mandatory to put the phone on “do not disturb” mode while someone is driving so the phone cannot send or receive calls or texts.
When it comes to talking on the cellphone, one proposal would make it mandatory to have the cellphone connected to the vehicle’s Bluetooth technology, so the driver can talk hands-free. Rodgers said while that was a good idea, studies have shown just talking to someone during a call can be distracting for drivers, especially young drivers without a lot of driving experience.
Some of the proposals suggested installing applications on cellphones where the phone would automatically shut itself off when it senses a moving vehicle. Rodgers said the issue with that is being able to prove the application is installed on people’s cellphones, which gets into privacy concerns and the ability of police to look at someone’s phone. That would also be the case for the do not disturb proposal.
The students countered with advertising to get the word out about the dangers of distracted driving. Rodgers said, unfortunately, much of the advertising now is focused on television, which he recognizes isn’t what most young people are watching these days. Students suggested putting the ads on social media, such as SnapChat, or other media outlets younger people use, such as YouTube, in order to get to the target audience.
For the cyberbullying piece that the bill mentions, one proposal by the students called for a practice where someone being bullied can screenshot harassing or threatening messages they are receiving and forward them to authorities. The proposal also called for the offender’s social media accounts to be suspended for a period of time. Rodgers said the issue there is getting the large social media companies to buy-in and agree to suspend accounts upon request and it also raises issues with the freedom of speech. He noted if someone is being threatened then that information should be sent to law enforcement.
Rodgers said he liked the ideas, and encouraged them to speak with committees at the legislature so they can get a perspective and ideas from the state’s younger citizens.
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