LONDON: The Princess of Wales has a suggestion for parents: Please put down the phone.
Kate, as she is commonly known, collaborated with adult development researcher Robert Waldinger to warn that technology is contributing to an epidemic of disconnection that is hurting family relationships. Devices that promise to keep us connected often do the opposite, they say in an essay posted on the Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood website.
“We sit together in the same room while our minds are scattered across dozens of apps, notifications, and feeds,’’ the authors wrote. “We’re physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us.’’
The princess has made early childhood development one of her primary causes. She has now teamed up with Waldinger, who is the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, a long-term study of adult life and happiness that concluded those with stronger relationships were more likely to live happy, satisfying and healthier lives.
“Look the people you care about in the eye and be fully there — because that is where love begins,” they said.
Princess of Wales suggests parents should put down the phone to combat social discontent
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Princess of Wales suggests parents should put down the phone to combat social discontent
- Kate collaborated with adult development researcher Robert Waldinger to warn that technology is contributing to an epidemic of disconnection
- The princess has made early childhood development one of her primary causes
19 EU countries call on EU to fund ‘return hubs’
- The European Parliament must still vote on the measures
- Denmark has made illegal immigration one of its main battlehorses during its six-month stint at the helm of the EU presidency
COPENHAGEN: After the European Union significantly tightened its immigration policy earlier this month, 19 EU countries on Wednesday urged the European Commission to finance “return hubs” outside the bloc for failed asylum-seekers.
Interior ministers from the 27-member bloc greenlighted a package of measures on December 8 that include the opening of return hubs and harsher penalities for migrants who refuse to leave European territory.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden called on the Commission to make the changes possible.
“Specifically, the EU countries want ... the Commission to help ensure, going forward, that the financing of, among other things, return centers can be done using EU funds,” the Danish immigration ministry said in a statement, with the signed letter sent to the Commission attached.
The European Parliament must still vote on the measures.
Denmark has made illegal immigration one of its main battlehorses during its six-month stint at the helm of the EU presidency, which ends at the end of the month.
“The work is not done, and I’m glad that there are now 19 countries that stand behind a letter calling on the EU system to provide diplomatic and economic help to ensure that the new and innovative solutions — such as return centers — will become a reality,” Danish Immigration Minister Rasmus Stoklund said in a statement.
“For years, Denmark has worked hard to persuade other European countries of Danish ideas such as moving the processing of asylum applications outside Europe, as well as other ideas involving cooperation with third countries outside the EU,” the ministry added.
“The group of EU countries that support such new and innovative solutions has steadily expanded,” it said.
Activists working with migrants have meanwhile denounced the measures, saying they violate migrants’ human rights and risk pushing them into danger.
