Alarmed by the number of preteens typing away on smartphones?
So is a Denver-area anesthesiologist and dad of five, Tim Farnum, who is helming a proposal in Colorado to establish legal limits on smartphone sales to those under the age of 13, according to the Washington Post. If passed, it would be the first U.S. state with legal limits on smartphone sales to children.
Under the ballot initiative proposal, selling a smartphone to a preteen or younger minor would incur a written warning, while a second offense would be met with a $500 fine. Each future incident would then result in the fine doubling each time.
The proposal still needs about 300,000 voter signatures to make it onto the 2018 ballot, according to the Denver Post.
Farnum was inspired to start the organization that submitted the proposal, Parents Against Underage Smartphones, after he noticed his children becoming moody, quiet, and reclusive on their phones, the Post reports.