(Radio Iowa) – Today (This first Friday in March) is considered the National Day of Unplugging, where people are encouraged to disconnect from digital distractions. Monique Moore of Urbandale is urging Iowans to join her in what’s called Phones Down For Five, where everyone takes a break from their phones for five days, five hours or even five minutes in order to reset our relationship with technology.

“The experience is really intended to help people understand if they are addicted to their device and to develop healthier habits with their devices,” Moore says. “Technology isn’t a bad thing. It’s just when we get over-consumed with a technology, it takes us away from those other things that are also important in our lives.” Moore is the West Iowa Director of Sales for U-S Cellular. So why is she trying to get people not to use the company’s products for any period of time?

“As a technology company, we understand that the technology is important,” Moore says, “but we also understand how important it is to step away from our phones to connect to the people and the moments that matter most.” Moore is pledging to power down her device for five days, but acknowledges she may still have to use it for work emergencies.

“I’m not going to use my phone for anything that isn’t absolutely necessary during that time,” Moore says. “Social media, I’m definitely giving it up, and rather than spending time scrolling, I’m going to spend more time with my kids, get outside and try to do some things I can’t do if I’m stuck in my phone.” She says a recent study finds the average American spends more than five hours per day on their phones.

(Radio Iowa) –  Republicans on committees in the Iowa House and Senate have voted to let teenagers work longer hours and let them work at jobs that are currently off-limits for minors.

“It provides greater opportunities for our youth who want to — not being forced to….but greater opportunities for our youth who desire and aspire to take on and learn (the) responsibilities of having a job,” Senator Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, said Thursday, during a Senate Workforce Committee meeting.

The bill would let kids who have a permit to drive to and from school — drive to and from work. “To give teenagers the ability to have a job at the same time that their classmates are participating in sporting events or music events or doing other things,” Dickey said. “…It’s simply giving them opportunities to things that are of interest to them in the same time frame as their classmates have opportunities to do.”

Teenagers could get permission from their parents to serve alcohol in a bar or restaurant if the bill becomes law. The directors of the Workforce Development and Education Departments could grant waivers so teens could do some kinds of supervised work in places like factories and construction sites. Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said the changes would put kids in harm’s way.

“There are so many parts of this that are against the federal laws,” Donahue said. “That is also a concern to me.”

For example, federal rules prohibit 14- and 15-year-olds from working past 9 p.m. in the summer and 7 p.m. during the school year. The bill would let 14- and 15-year-olds work two hours longer at night. Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, said when it comes to children in the workplace, this bill is a step backwards.

“We have very low unemployment,” Boulton said. “We just don’t have enough workers right now and trying to correct that problem by putting more kids in the workplace just does not feel like the right path for Iowa.”

Senator Dickey accused Democrats of being hypocrites. “If you’re outraged against this bill because you don’t feel that your high school students in Iowa are mature or responsible enough to make these decisions or work with these restrictions, how you can grandstand and say that they should have the ability to request a sex change at that same age?” Dickey asked.

A bill approved by Republicans on a different Senate committee would ban minors from receiving gender reassignment surgery in Iowa.