Hang up and learn

[Starman]

Several school districts in our area want to enforce an absolute ban on cell phones during the school day. All students would be required to lock their phones in lockers in the morning then get them out at the end of the day.

Problem is, the same schools are considering eliminating lockers due to the possibility of bomb threats. The phone ban proponents say if that happens, so be it -- leave your phones at home.

 

[dixiehack]

I’ve seen some schools that require students to seal up their phones in lockable pouches, like you see at concerts sometimes. You can visit the machine that springs it open on your way out the door for the day.

 

[HanSenSE]

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.

No, football practice. Today's the day of the sexual reassignment.

 

[HanSenSE]

I think it was when she was in junior high, but one of my niece's classes took a week-long trip to Washington. One of the first thongs the teachers did was to take away their phones so they wouldn't spend the whole trip texting.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Whut?

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

It’s so easy a caveman could do it.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

“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.”

No, ma’am, if you want to know who’s sexualizing them look toward your weird brother-in-law.

 

[John]

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.

Living in a college town with about 40K students, I see groups of students walking together many times a day ... and they're all looking down at their phones pretty much the whole time. Or I'll see groups of women out walking or running together, yet they're all wearing headphones. Now, go into any doctor's waiting room and everyone there is looking at their phones, too, so this isn't just a young people thing. But at a dinner party the other night, I couldn't help but notice that nobody pulled out their phones for the whole two-plus hours. No calls, no texts, no posts, no photos. It was delightful.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

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?

Yes. Again, who are these kids you know?

 

[User 149557]

I’ve been texted four times today and seven times in two days from my son’s school about when to pick up mums from a school fundraiser I didn’t buy from.

Enough about the mums. Mum on the mums.

Burn all phones everywhere.

 

[SixToe]

I think it was when she was in junior high, but one of my niece's classes took a week-long trip to Washington. One of the first thongs the teachers did was to take away their phones so they wouldn't spend the whole trip texting.

Texting each other, sitting in the next seat, but not actually talking. Have seen that before. Insane.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

First thongs are worn in junior high so that tracks, I suppose.

 

[poindexter]

We were at a takeout place last week. The only other family in there was a mom, a dad, and a child I am guessing was between 18-24 months.

Child never looked up from some sort of game/program on her mom's phone. It really bothered me.

What a perfect time to talk, have experiences. Except the whole family was silent and the toddler never looked up from the phone.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I was on single-parent duty last week, so I dropped my daughter off at her thing and took my son to my taekwondo class. I told him he could bring his Switch, since he’d be sitting there by himself for an hour.

We got there at the tail-end of a kids’ class, and he found a spot to sit and play. Next thing I knew, about a dozen kids were huddled around watching him play on their way out. Kind of like that Friends episode where Joey sneaks a mini TV into a funeral so they can watch the Giants game.

I’d never seen anything like it. I just cracked up at the absurdity.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Of course, uncomfortable silences at family dinners go back to before the explosion of the cellphone.

 

[HanSenSE]

I see this scene often at the store. Mom has a full cart of groceries, we're skating shorthanded and I don't have a bagger, she could obviously use some help, and her teen/tween kids are texting away. There are days I feel like screaming, "Kids, your mom is buying all this so you can have a nice meal, the least you can do is lend a hand."

 

[MisterCreosote]

Hearing **** like that makes me appreciate my kids even more. They have their screen-related moments, but I can’t imagine either of them doing anything like that.

 

[Human_Paraquat]

Both my wife and i being journalists, we spend a lot of time on our phones -- or have them close by at all times.
I hate the example this sets for our 2-year-old. Have already seen the effect of screens -- which we try to limit. If he's ever watching Blippi or whatever on a TV or phone and his mom or I walk into the room, he pretty much completely ignores us.
I happen to be an Indiana resident, too, so I'm all for this restriction. Not sure what took them so long, really. And I'm eager to face off against the enabling parents who will push back.

 

[dixiehack]

I was on single-parent duty last week, so I dropped my daughter off at her thing and took my son to my taekwondo class. I told him he could bring his Switch, since he’d be sitting there by himself for an hour.

We got there at the tail-end of a kids’ class, and he found a spot to sit and play. Next thing I knew, about a dozen kids were huddled around watching him play on their way out. Kind of like that Friends episode where Joey sneaks a mini TV into a funeral so they can watch the Giants game.

I’d never seen anything like it. I just cracked up at the absurdity.

In the early-mid 80s, hyperactive dixiehack would while away the hours at the laundromat watching other kids play Pac Man and Galaga once my supply of quarters was exhausted, to the point that some of them had a legit case for a restraining order. If no one was playing, I’d grab the joystick and pretend I was playing while the attract screens cycled through.

And there was a moral panic then too. (I realize this sound hypocritical now that I’m on the other side of the debate.)

 

[swingline]

Ms. Pac-Man was cuter.

 

[SixToe]

Galaga was the best, and still is