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
South Sudan officers face court martial over civilian massacre
- The increasingly unstable country is seeing a surge of fighting between government and opposition forces
JUBA: South Sudanese soldiers, including two officers, will face a court martial over a civilian massacre last month, the army spokesman said Wednesday.
The increasingly unstable country is seeing a surge of fighting between government and opposition forces, much of it in eastern Jonglei state where at least 280,000 people have been displaced since December according to the UN.
At least 25 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Ayod County in Jonglei state on February 21, according to the opposition.
Army spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said that two officers, including a major, and several non-commissioned officers, had been arrested and would face charges in the capital Juba, “before they are arraigned before a competent military court martial.”
He said the deaths were attributed to “some elements” under Gen. Johnson Olony, who was filmed in January ordering troops to “spare no lives” in Jonglei.
Koang said the soldiers had “moved out without the knowledge or authorization of the division commander.”
He also said they had been part of a militia group allied to opposition forces, parts of which had not yet been fully integrated into the army.
Military integration was among the core principles of a peace agreement that ended South Sudan’s five-year civil war in 2018 between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, but it was never implemented.
Koang said the army regretted the loss of lives, adding: “We would like to once again remind our forces that their mandate is to protect civilians and their property, not to do the opposite.”
It followed an impassioned plea from the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference on recent civilian killings — in Ayod, and also in Abiemnom County near the Sudan border where at least 169 people were killed on Sunday.
“We implore you to deploy resources to protect vulnerable populations and foster a climate of dialogue and reconciliation instead of violence and revenge, consoling the bereaved and supporting the afflicted,” it said in a statement.
