Hang up and learn

[dixiehack]

Three cheers to Indiana I say. This is an issue where I am a proud Luddite.

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/10/nx-s1-5105976/indiana-school-cellphone-ban-students-teachers

Last fall, about 7 in 10 U.S. high school teachers reported that students being distracted by their phones was a "major problem" in classrooms, according to a study by Pew Research Center.

Indiana is among a handful of states that have responded to that problem by passing laws or enacting policies that aim to restrict the use of cellphones in schools. According to an Education Week analysis, six of those state measures take effect this school year. In places without state policies, individual districts have adopted their own cellphone bans, including districts in Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Colo., Cherry Hill, N.J., and multiple cities in Michigan.

It's too soon to say whether these policies will be effective in improving student engagement, but the initial reports from Indiana seem promising.

Barker believes this law will benefit more than it will hurt. Just a couple of weeks into the new school year, Barker says his students are more focused and he has not had to remind them to put their devices away.

His colleague, Beech Grove English teacher Josie Defreese, says she has noticed another benefit: "I feel like my classrooms are loud again."

Last year, Defreese says, when her students had downtime, their heads were buried in their phones and it was quiet. This year, that has changed.

"The kids turn to each other and talk, or they start drawing on my board, or they ask me questions with their homework, and it just becomes a lot more lively, interactive environment," she says.

The second best time to fix a problem is today.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I think it's hard for people to understand what an issue this is unless they're around kids and see how they are handcuffed to their phones every waking moment. It's a reality that we didn't grow up with, it's created a full-time "escape hatch" for many of them, and it's made them less receptive to the world around them.

 

[User 149557]

The world is catching up to me. In the 1990s I just carried around really big books and when people bored me, I read in front of them. In hindsight it was a kickass power move from my 13-year old self.

“You asking me about my future plans? Boring. You know what’s less boring? This book about Salmon P. Chase.”

 

[Regan MacNeil]

That is a genius move.

"GET OFF YOUR PHONE!" ... sure. What kind of monster is going to tell a kid to stop reading?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

The parents aren’t generally not helpful when schools trying to do a phone ban.

“What if I need to get ahold of my child during the day? Why do you want me to not get instant access to my child? Are you indoctrinating them? You just don’t want them to have phones so you can sexualize them.”

“Relax. If you need to get ahold of your kid, call the office, and we’ll go get them, just like we did for 50 years before there were cell phones. And I’m willing to bet your kid is seeing a lot more sexual content on their phone than anything that we’re teaching them about the birds and the bees.”

 

[dixiehack]

Well we were going to make little Abby get gay married in a litter box, but you just happened to text her then about pickup from volleyball practice and now our whole evil scheme is shot to hell.

 

[Webster]

My son either has to leave his phone in his locker or he has to put his phone in a cubby at the start of each class. Of course plenty of kids lie and say that they left it in their locker and are looking at it during class.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

The parents aren’t generally not helpful when schools trying to do a phone ban.

“What if I need to get ahold of my child during the day? Why do you want me to not get instant access to my child? Are you indoctrinating them? You just don’t want them to have phones so you can sexualize them.”

“Relax. If you need to get ahold of your kid, call the office, and we’ll go get them, just like we did for 50 years before there were cell phones. And I’m willing to bet your kid is seeing a lot more sexual content on their phone than anything that we’re teaching them about the birds and the bees.”

The best term I’ve heard is “digital umbilical cord.”

 

[BTExpress]

“You asking me about my future plans? Boring. You know what’s less boring? This book about Salmon P. Chase.”

The only thing I know about Salmon P. Chase, learned from reading the "Money" section of my World Book encyclopedia as a child:

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

There was an assembly the other day and my daughter was only one of a handful of 6th graders that didn’t have their own phone. She has a Garmin watch so we can see her walking home and has some texting ability to talk with us in case something changes. 11 years old is too young for a phone.

 

[Slacker]

The parents aren’t generally not helpful
when schools trying to do a phone ban.

Whut?

"Please, dammit, I'm just an unfrozen caveman.
Your double negatives frighten and confuse me."

 

[SixToe]

I think it's hard for people to understand what an issue this is unless they're around kids and see how they are handcuffed to their phones every waking moment. It's a reality that we didn't grow up with, it's created a full-time "escape hatch" for many of them, and it's made them less receptive to the world around them.

They're addicted to them. Adults, too. Take away a connection on the road, or in a building, and some people lose their minds. It's not a work thing, or a safety thing. It's an addiction, bordering on mental illness with some, who think they can't function without it.

My brother is a high school teacher and has seen the gamut of student and parent interactions about phones. His school doesn't have a phone ban but they're putting one in place next year even if the county system doesn't institute one. The teachers and admins are fed up.

 

[MisterCreosote]

There was an assembly the other day and my daughter was only one of a handful of 6th graders that didn’t have their own phone. She has a Garmin watch so we can see her walking home and has some texting ability to talk with us in case something changes. 11 years old is too young for a phone.

Funny you say that. We just got a phone for our son to give him on his 11th birthday in a few weeks.

We got one of the ones with the strictest “controls.” He’s used to his devices being locked down and only being able to use them after we put in a code, so I’m hoping that will extend to the phone.

If not, and if he gets caught ****ing around on it in school, it goes away.

 

[dixiehack]

The CIA and KGB wish they had hackers as skilled as teens and preteens circumventing device restrictions.

 

[SixToe]

Adults: Oh, I have to be careful. I might break something. I don't understand all this technology!

Pre-Teens, Teens: Gimmie that, punch all those buttons now. It ain't broke, do this. See? There.

 

[Slacker]

I saw what electronic devices did to kids in my extended family. From age 3 and up, the kids in one branch of the family were parked almost every minute on whatever devices they had that year, even (and especially) at Grandma's and Grandpa's house – and the results were devastating. The kids never learned the value of having active, genuine, loving conversations with the adults who treasured them most – their FAMILY, for crissakes – and the grandparents never got to truly know these kids they adored and iwere sitting 4 feet in front of them.

It was horrible to watch. Wasn't my place to interfere, so I chewed on my tongue a lot.

Now, 20 years later, the grandparents are long gone, died without really knowing those grandkids but wishing they could have – and the kids themselves never did learn how to have an adult conversation.

I love the Internet, and the value of good social media sites.
But this stuff should be taught hard and often, all the way through college.

Our kids are destroying each other – and themselves, and teachers, too – without knowing that.
Without knowing that there are people (and nations) out there who are ****ing with us for sport.

To incite us to kill what offends us. And to incite us to tear ourselves apart from within.

Perhaps too hard here, sorry. But the dangerous influencers are, every day, aiming as low as they can go.

Prove me wrong.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Our kids are destroying each other – and themselves, and teachers, too – without knowing that.
Without knowing that there are people (and nations) out there who are ****ing with us for sport.

To incite us to kill what offends us. And to incite us to tear ourselves apart from within.

Perhaps too hard here, sorry. But the dangerous influencers are, every day, aiming as low as they can go.

Prove me wrong.

You're not describing the kids I know. You're describing their grandparents.

 

[MisterCreosote]

The CIA and KGB wish they had hackers as skilled as teens and preteens circumventing device restrictions.

I have to say I’m very pleased with Nintendo and Google controls. It also helps that I can lock any device from my phone instantaneously.

YouTube “restrictions” suck.

 

[Slacker]

You're not describing the kids I know. You're describing their grandparents.

I'm describing kids who don't know the value (and unconditional love) of grandparents because they don't even know the ****ing value and experience of grandparents anymore. Do they even know who or what grandparents are?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Whut?

"Please, dammit, I'm just an unfrozen caveman.
Your double negatives frighten and confuse me."

Eeesh. Upon further review, I denounce myself.