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Personal opinions on youngest age for lasering?

Youngest age to own a lasr?

  • Old enough to correctly spell laser lol^

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • Any age in which they are educated enough to use one.

    Votes: 30 48.4%

  • 10+ for any power as long as they are well educated on the dangers.

    Votes: 8 12.9%

  • 16+ for burning 10+ for 1-100mw

    Votes: 8 12.9%

  • no one under the age of 18 should even be allowed to touch a laser of any power.

    Votes: 15 24.2%
  • Total voters
    62
joeybab3

joeybab3

0
Joined
Dec 17, 2014
Messages
643
Points
28
Alright, i've never tried a poll before but here goes:

I was wondering what your personal opinions are on the youngest age that someone should be able to have a laser is. Now while i'm fairly certain a 6-year old no matter how old should not be in possesion of a burning laser(or really anything other than a cat toy) i do believe that many under the age of 18 can correctly handle a laser of any power. Just wondering what your guys's thoughts were on this.
 





I don't think age is the suitable metric to measure a person's capacity to responsibly use a laser. A properly instructed preschooler can be more responsible some adults of any age.
 
With guided supervision, I have allowed my eldest daughter (7) to use one of my lower-powered 532s to point out Jupiter in the night sky. Under no circumstances would I allow her to perform a 'burning' experiment of any kind although I am happy for her to spectate from a distance with her own pair of safey goggles (elasticated headstrap for tight fitment).

Some may frown upon this but my view is that we need to educate both the emerging generation and uninformed public that lasers pose no danger or threat when used responsibly and with the correct safety precautions.

Without supervision, my gut feel for minimum age would be around 16 although I acknoweldge that a mature 12-13 year old could also use without issue. As Bionic Badger said, there are too many variables.
 
As others have said, it REALLY depends on the person. There are some younger people who are very mature for their age and on the other hand, some "adults" who shine lasers at airplanes and shouldn't be trusted with a screwdriver.


Under 12 I would recommend supervision, at least at first to gauge maturity level. I would also recommend (and this goes for anyone starting in the hobby) to begin with a <5mW laser.
 
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I agree that there's no specific age. I once met a 5 year old that could read and write and was really smart, but some people that are idiots can remain idiots throughout their entire lifetime.

Alan
 
I agree with you guys on this, i just wanted to see the general consensus.
 
Yep. No general age, I was messing around with 50mW when I was 13. But I understood the dangers of lasers. And I see college students being complete idiots. So there's no real age, it's just how responsible and mature the person is
 
I very much agree that age isnt a proper measurement for mental capacity. I feel somewhat the same for schooling. It does make me sad though that the second most popular vote is that nobody under 18 should be near them. I too have friends and know people who are younger than even me, but are still more mature and smarter than my parents, or other older people I know.

EDIT: I see that my avatar doesn't help with my position, but trust me ;)
 
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There is no "age limit" for lasers. It all depends on when the person becomes mature enough & realizes there are consequences for every actions. If in the event themselves/someone else is harmed while using lasers they must be mature enough to handle what follows.

-Alex
 
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4th choice is flawed. You can light a dark match with less than 40mW. This falls in line with other newer members comments not understanding how powerful units under 100mW really are. This is not a good sign. I just commented on this in a couple other threads recently:(
 
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I looked at the sun with a telescope when I was 12 years old, that was pretty stupid.... I couldn't get the scope on the sun with the filter in, so took it out to get "close" and then put it back in, that was my idea, oh I got close alright. Bam.... saw a hue of pink in that eye for two days, too scared to tell my parents. Eventually my vision came back to normal except for night vision in that eye is somewhat diminished. So, how old should one be to have a cheap 25 dollar telescope?
 
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joeybab3 said:
Alright, i've never tried a poll before but here goes:

I was wondering what your personal opinions are on the youngest age that someone should be able to have a laser is. Now while i'm fairly certain a 6-year old no matter how old should not be in possesion of a burning laser(or really anything other than a cat toy) i do believe that many under the age of 18 can correctly handle a laser of any power. Just wondering what your guys's thoughts were on this.
Click to expand...

1mW or less probably fine for most people, 100mW+, old enough to make sensible decisions to mess with danger. I'm not convinced I'm old enough and I'm 38 ;)
 
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