Friday, April 24, 2009

Shaken Baby Application Makes Apple One Bad Apple!


My first thought: What in the world were they thinking? Apple iPhones are selling at breakneck speed and AT&T continues to survive due to the revenue from Apple Iphones putting them at the top of the heap. So what imbecile (I'm guessing some white male under 30) developed this app that when you click on the baby icon it cries and won't stop until you shake the phone?
Come to find out, Apple threw open the gates of software in order to expand the apps available for iphone. A company named Sikalosoft, developed the "Baby Shaker" and it is a "game",yes that's what they said, the user plays and gains points by continuing to shake the baby until the red x's appear on the drawing of a baby on the icon. Wow! Winning a game because you shook your phone enough to simulate bleeding into the eyes as a result of torn blood vessels?! Yes, Virginia, and for only 99 cents you can play! What will those clever developers come up with next? Perhaps the Craigslist Killer icon can't be too far behind!
This is one of the most egregious misuses of technology that I have seen since the arrival of play station's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which provides points for direct kills of human beings.
I happen to be a child development advocate and teacher for over 25 years. I have taught literally thousands of students the horrific effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome. I continue to be shocked at the rise in Shaken Baby Syndrome deaths across our country. And yes, the perpetrator of this vicious abuse to a helpless infant is a male over seventy per cent of the time.
I would refer the iPhone execs, Apple and AT&T brass to click this link to a Power Point presentation of what happens when a baby is shaken. My students were stunned when they learned that the shaking doesn't have to be the violent examples depicted in movies. I'm guessing that the same amount of shaking of your iPhone to stop the recorded crying baby is exactly the amount that can cause major physical harm to an infant and unfortunately, death.
Just for the sake of those who do not visit this website, let me provide the list of injuries that are seen in emergency rooms daily in our country resulting from shaking a baby:
1) Baby’s brain bangs against skull. 2) Small blood vessels are torn - bleeding 3) Blood clots press on brain. 4) Vertebrae crush the spinal cord.
And the occurrence of the above injuries can result in the following: brain damage, retardation,physical disabilities, paralysis, blindness, and death.
On Thursday, April 23, Apple offered an apology and stated that the application has been pulled from the iPhones. The question remains, how many iPhones were sold with the Baby Shaker app? Why did it take a Shaken Baby Syndrome Charity group to expose this deplorable use of technology to simulate a heinous crime?
One of my Human Development classes at Kokomo High School in Indiana put together original poems and short stories underscoring the violence that rears its ugly head too often in our communities regardless of race,creed, or socio-economic factors. I end this blog with a poem from one of the students. Perhaps Apple could make a donation to the National Shaken Baby Syndrome foundation to somehow repair the damage they have done by trivializing a rising form of abuse to our most innocent victims.
Oh, by the way, iPhone Apple,AT&T and Sikalosoft. April is
National Child Abuse Prevention month. Get a clue.

Why?
Written by: Brittany Pittman
Edited by Mrs. Yeakel

Hi, my name is Freddy,
And I’m holding my teddy bear,
I’m holding him tight,
Because I know something is not right.
I hear footsteps coming down the hall,
Then suddenly I start to bawl,
He swings open the door,
My eyes start to pour,
He picks me up and shakes me…
Why doesn’t God just take me?

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