Latest news with #2024ConsumerConnectionsReport
Axios
24-03-2025
- Axios
Keeping families connected and protected in a digital world
Verizon is empowering parents and caregivers with tools that help keep your family safe and provide peace of mind. Why it's important: As families navigate an increasingly digital world, creating healthy relationships with technology is more critical than ever. Today, parents have a lot more to monitor. The average Verizon internet household now has 18 connected devices, according to Verizon's 2024 Consumer Connections Report. Plus, parents are increasingly concerned about safety. About 63% of parents feel anxious when they don't have immediate access to their child's location, according to a recent Verizon survey. The solution: Verizon Family is a game-changer for digital safety. It offers innovative tools to keep loved ones connected and protected — all from one app. Verizon Family provides essential safety features for caregivers, including: Safe Walk with SOS: Provides real-time location sharing to emergency contacts for added security. Location monitoring: Allows caregivers to monitor their dependents' whereabouts and set alerts for arrivals and departures. Call and text monitoring: Helps caregivers foster open communication by providing insights into calls and texts made over the Verizon network. The positive news: Verizon Family is already helping parents take proactive steps to help safeguard digital experiences. According to 2024 Verizon's Consumer Connections Report: 62% of parents and other caregivers used filters to block objectionable content. 54% of parents and other caregivers restricted access to certain social media apps. Worth a mention: Verizon also offers a range of tools aimed at promoting online safety and responsible technology use, including the Gizmo Watch line of kids' smartwatches. Parents and other caregivers make an average of 3.3 million calls per month to children wearing Gizmo watches, underscoring the importance of safe, reliable communication. Okay, but: Digital safety isn't just a priority for children — it's essential for vulnerable adults, too. Older adults are increasingly at risk in a more connected world. Nearly 3 in 4 individuals over 50 report being targeted for cybercrimes, according to AARP. And in 2023 alone, Americans over 60 lost $3.4 billion to online scams — with an average victim losing over $33,000 — according to the FBI. That's why Verizon will extend its upcoming digital wellness initiatives to seniors and their caregivers, helping ensure they have the tools to navigate technology securely. The details: Verizon is expanding its commitment to digital wellness, equipping youth, parents, caregivers and older adults with the skills to navigate technology responsibly. Beyond connectivity, Verizon is focused on fostering a healthy relationship with digital tools through free, expert-backed programs. For K-12 educators and students: Verizon is partnering with Discovery Education to provide digital citizenship resources to schools. Verizon is also conducting a research study with Sesame Workshop and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center focused on children's digital wellness, to guide the creation of future digital wellness programs for kids. For parents and caregivers: Verizon will offer free training on fostering healthy digital habits in partnership with My Digital TAT2. For older adults: Verizon will provide digital literacy resources and cybersecurity training in partnership with Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), from AARP. Parents can also get free tips, advice and research-based strategies from the experts to navigate the digital world at By providing practical knowledge and best practices, Verizon is helping to ensure that people of all ages can use technology with confidence and awareness.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Excessive phone and screen use tied to manic symptoms for one group, study finds
A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, indicates that pre-teens with greater exposure to certain types of tech use could be at a higher risk of developing manic symptoms. Published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, the study analyzed a nationwide sample of 9,243 children in the U.S. between 10 and 11 years old. Young people who spent more time engaged with social media, texting, videos and video games were more likely to have "inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, rapid speech, racing thoughts and impulsivity — behaviors characteristic of manic episodes, a key feature of bipolar-spectrum disorders," a press release noted. Limit Of 3 Hours Of Weekly Screen Time For Kids Has 'Positive Effect' On Behavior, Mental Health: Study "This study underscores the importance of cultivating healthy screen use habits early," said co-author Kyle Ganson, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, in the release. "Future research can help us better understand the behaviors and brain mechanisms linking screen use with manic symptoms to help inform prevention and intervention efforts." Read On The Fox News App To mark the Global Day of Unplugging (March 7), Verizon hosted its first-ever "digital wellness summit" in New York City to share insights with the public about the safe use of technology. Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, discussed the importance of setting digital boundaries, especially for kids. "Digital wellness should be for every age, but really we need a new blueprint as parents, because we've never been through this before," Sampath said at the event in the Big Apple. "This digital age is new to us all. There's no time in history we can reclaim how we handle that." In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Sampath shared compelling statistics on phone use, including findings from Verizon's 2024 Consumer Connections Report. Kids and teenagers use social media for four to five hours a day and receive between 250 and 275 notifications daily, the report revealed. Kids were also found to touch and pick up their phones about 150 times per day. A quarter of these events occurred during school hours. "This is what sparked us to think there is a healthier relationship people can have," Sampath said. Dr. Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, attending psychologist at Boston's Children's Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, also spoke at a panel at the Verizon event and in a follow-up interview with Fox News Digital. The expert noted that kids spending "hours and hours" of their free time on their phones can be "problematic," especially considering the possibility that they'll experience threats such as cyberbullying and hate speech. Kids And Smartphones: How Young Is Too Young? Experts Reveal Important Recommendations "We know that these are associated with depressive symptoms and other mental health concerns," she said. "We also know that there's so much positive for social connection, learning and fun, so we have to balance those two things." She pointed out that some social media apps are "designed to keep you stuck" through the loop of an algorithm. This problematic use can lead to poorer functioning at work or school and can negatively impact sleep and relationships, Sinclair-McBride warned. "Are they able to live their life and do the things they want and need to do in a positive way? If there are concerns in any of those areas, that's usually a sign of something needing to be reassessed." Sinclair-McBride encouraged parents and grandparents to learn about the apps children are using and teach them to be "critical consumers" of content by training them to detect scams, misinformation or AI-generated content. "Slowing down and being more thoughtful and mindful about what you're doing is, I think, the first step in modeling that as a parent," she told Fox News Digital. What Is 'Brain Rot'? The Science Behind What Too Much Scrolling Does To Our Brains "Parents can also look at their own use and [ask], 'Am I on my phone too much? Am I too addicted to social media?'" The CEO also urged adults to set boundaries involving phone use, whether it's limited to certain spaces in the home or specific times of day. Sampath shared simple advice for families to ensure a healthy balance between tech use and unplugged activities. "Go for a movie. Go for a walk. Go and play a game or just hang out with friends. Or just hang out with your family in your kitchen and do fun things," he suggested. "I think kids are going to have to be comfortable sometimes doing nothing … reading a book, just hanging out," he said. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "Kids are going to have to get way more comfortable doing that – that's part of a healthy boundary, and it's part of a good relationship with technology." Sampath also encouraged Americans to take advantage of living in areas with "some of the best weather" and "the best natural sights in the world" by exploring outdoor spaces and moving more. "You want to create space to have fun. You want to create space to play. You want to create space to have physical activity, to have real relationships," he said. "It has long-term benefits on mental health … When you do things in real life, you feel happier." For more Health articles, visit Sinclair-McBride echoed the advice to get outside and "touch grass." "The time that people spend with digital technology needs to be balanced with real-life stuff, whether it's sports, the arts, creative activities, reading or actual hands-on, tangible things," she said. "I think people are in this mindset that this generation only wants to do digital, digital, digital," she added. "They still like other stuff, too. We have to give them options, space and freedom to have that time."Original article source: Excessive phone and screen use tied to manic symptoms for one group, study finds
Fox News
08-03-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Excessive phone and screen use tied to manic symptoms for one group, study finds
A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, indicates that pre-teens with greater exposure to certain types of tech use could be at a higher risk of developing manic symptoms. Published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, the study analyzed a nationwide sample of 9,243 children in the U.S. between 10 and 11 years old. Young people who spent more time engaged with social media, texting, videos and video games were more likely to have "inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, rapid speech, racing thoughts and impulsivity — behaviors characteristic of manic episodes, a key feature of bipolar-spectrum disorders," a press release noted. "This study underscores the importance of cultivating healthy screen use habits early," said co-author Kyle Ganson, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, in the release. "Future research can help us better understand the behaviors and brain mechanisms linking screen use with manic symptoms to help inform prevention and intervention efforts." To mark the Global Day of Unplugging (March 7), Verizon hosted its first-ever "digital wellness summit" in New York City to share insights with the public about the safe use of technology. Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, discussed the importance of setting digital boundaries, especially for kids. "Digital wellness should be for every age, but really we need a new blueprint as parents, because we've never been through this before," Sampath said at the event in the Big Apple. "There is a healthier relationship people can have." "This digital age is new to us all. There's no time in history we can reclaim how we handle that." In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Sampath shared compelling statistics on phone use, including findings from Verizon's 2024 Consumer Connections Report. Kids and teenagers use social media for four to five hours a day and receive between 250 and 275 notifications daily, the report revealed. Kids were also found to touch and pick up their phones about 150 times per day. A quarter of these events occurred during school hours. "This is what sparked us to think there is a healthier relationship people can have," Sampath said. Dr. Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, attending psychologist at Boston's Children's Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, also spoke at a panel at the Verizon event and in a follow-up interview with Fox News Digital. The expert noted that kids spending "hours and hours" of their free time on their phones can be "problematic," especially considering the possibility that they'll experience threats such as cyberbullying and hate speech. "We know that these are associated with depressive symptoms and other mental health concerns," she said. "We also know that there's so much positive for social connection, learning and fun, so we have to balance those two things." She pointed out that some social media apps are "designed to keep you stuck" through the loop of an algorithm. This problematic use can lead to poorer functioning at work or school and can negatively impact sleep and relationships, Sinclair-McBride warned. "Are they able to live their life and do the things they want and need to do in a positive way? If there are concerns in any of those areas, that's usually a sign of something needing to be reassessed." Sinclair-McBride encouraged parents and grandparents to learn about the apps children are using and teach them to be "critical consumers" of content by training them to detect scams, misinformation or AI-generated content. "Slowing down and being more thoughtful and mindful about what you're doing is, I think, the first step in modeling that as a parent," she told Fox News Digital. "Parents can also look at their own use and [ask], 'Am I on my phone too much? Am I too addicted to social media?'" The CEO also urged adults to set boundaries involving phone use, whether it's limited to certain spaces in the home or specific times of day. Sampath shared simple advice for families to ensure a healthy balance between tech use and unplugged activities. "Go for a movie. Go for a walk. Go and play a game or just hang out with friends. Or just hang out with your family in your kitchen and do fun things," he suggested. "I think kids are going to have to be comfortable sometimes doing nothing … reading a book, just hanging out," he said. "Kids are going to have to get way more comfortable doing that – that's part of a healthy boundary, and it's part of a good relationship with technology." Sampath also encouraged Americans to take advantage of living in areas with "some of the best weather" and "the best natural sights in the world" by exploring outdoor spaces and moving more. "You want to create space to have fun. You want to create space to play. You want to create space to have physical activity, to have real relationships," he said. "It has long-term benefits on mental health … When you do things in real life, you feel happier." For more Health articles, visit Sinclair-McBride echoed the advice to get outside and "touch grass." "The time that people spend with digital technology needs to be balanced with real-life stuff, whether it's sports, the arts, creative activities, reading or actual hands-on, tangible things," she said. "I think people are in this mindset that this generation only wants to do digital, digital, digital," she added. "They still like other stuff, too. We have to give them options, space and freedom to have that time."
