Schools Are Giving Up on Smartphone Bans (gizmodo.com) 117
Bans on phones in schools are increasingly becoming a thing of the past, new research shows. From a report: A survey from the National Center for Education Statistics exploring crime and safety at schools indicates that there is a trend toward relaxing student smartphone bans. The survey reports that the percentage of public schools that banned cell phones and other devices that can send text messages dropped from nearly 91 percent in 2009 through 2010 to nearly 66 percent in 2015 through 2016.
This drop did not coincide, however, with more lenient rules around social media. In 2009 and 2010, about 93 percent of public schools limited student access to social networking sites from school computers, compared to 89 percent from 2015 through 2016. That's likely because these bans aren't lifted in response to student demands to use their electronics during school hours -- they are bending to the pressure of parents who want to be able to reach their kids.
This drop did not coincide, however, with more lenient rules around social media. In 2009 and 2010, about 93 percent of public schools limited student access to social networking sites from school computers, compared to 89 percent from 2015 through 2016. That's likely because these bans aren't lifted in response to student demands to use their electronics during school hours -- they are bending to the pressure of parents who want to be able to reach their kids.
Re:Next up, vape bans (Score:5, Insightful)
We got to actually grow up and enjoy things as a kid, and to learn more quickly (I think) about independence and self sufficiency.
And at the very least....we weren't tracked everywhere, and could get into a bit more mischief and the world didn't end for any of us.
I've recently visiting with friends I've known since I was about 11yrs old, and we were talking old times, our exploits (we still remember some), and decided that some of the shit we pulled back in the day, would have put us on a terrorist watch list today?!?!
Hell, the way our parents let us alone in the neighborhood to run around "unsupervised" would today likely have had us taken by social services and put into freakin' foster care.
I don't get it, but man, I'm sure glad I grew up when I did. I was nice to NOT be in touch, to have an excuse to NOT be reachable by parents, etc.
And most of all....no one generally had a damned camera around to get pictures of you, and publish them where you might not only get into trouble right then....but also to maybe haunt you later in life.
I'm glad I've grown up to see the rise of the internet and lots of tech, but man...I feel for the kids today as that they have lost something....
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Seconded. I don't have mod points at the moment so I'm replying.
I grew up in the late 80's early 90's. Some of the computer related things I did would put me in Gitmo or federal-pound-me-in-the...... (you know the rest).
Things like finding open routers on X.25 networks (so I could check the mail when I couldn't afford Internet access, and there were no BBS's/public access Unix spots within local dialing distance in my small town. .... but the local AOL number was Sprintnet/Telenet ... so ....
Figuring out
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I grew up in the 70's. During the summer all I could do was dial up the timesharing (MECC/MERITS) phone number and whistle into it strange. Sometimes I could get the modem on the other end to engage and warble strange stuff back. Other than that, the teletypes were locked up in the school's math classroom and inaccessible.
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Oh so much THIS!!
Yep, most every pickup in the student (HS) parking lot had gun racks in them with loaded rifles, especially during deer season.
No problems, no one got shot. Hell, not to get into it, you had MUCH more easy access to firearms, yet, no one was mass shooting anyone, it seems to be more of a people problem than gun access problem these days
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No one to speak of is mass shooting anyone now either. Statistically gun deaths in schools are down [northeastern.edu] since the early 90's. There have been a
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I didn't see it tagged as 'wah wah life is so shitty now that I need to cast shade on you.'
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"some of the shit we pulled back in the day, would have put us on a terrorist watch list today?!?!"
Ditto here. We made explosives with sugar and weedkiller put it in empty camping gaz bottles and blew up stuff. (nothing worth anything or dangerous) We also built our own mortars and tried to shoot at the water tower, (dangerous) but we always missed.
Nobody ever gave a shit because everybody was doing it in all parts of town. Every farmer and forest owner also blew up tree stumps all day long, sometimes with
Re:Next up, vape bans (Score:4, Insightful)
And for those of us who were bullied, the bullying typically ended once you left school. When I was in high school and walked in my front door, the bullies couldn't reach me anymore. Nowadays, bullies can still harass people no matter where they are. We had to complain one day when a kid in my son's high school band class took out a cell phone and began taking photos of my son without his - or our - permission. The kid was making fun of my child as he did this so who knows where those photos ended up. Kids today have some really cool new tech to play with that we didn't have growing up, but there's a dark side to all of it as well.
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We got to actually grow up and enjoy things as a kid
Implying kids aren't enjoying themselves? Setting garbage bins on fire isn't the only thing people in life can enjoy. And for every miniature terrorist like you (and I for that matter) and your friends there was a cell-phone-child-precursor sitting in their bedroom devouring whole libraries of books in peace or another glued to the telly.
Life isn't about cell phones or fun, it's about many different people having fun in different ways.
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Disclaimer: I'm a tech in a school district.
They know exactly what they've lost, that's the reason they are doing it.
Most of the smartphone bans are due to misuse. I.e. "Hey let's take a picture of that other kid and bully them on social media with it." They also know that will follow them, regardless as to what the school district or their parents might do, so they consider it the ultimate form of revenge / bullying. As the revenge / bullying ha
Just give up on the schools (Score:1)
They are shit anyway.
Or send the kids overseas for better education.
Re:Just give up on the schools (Score:4, Funny)
Let's go back to sending children to work in coal mines. Their smartphones won't work down there.
"can send text messages"/ban enforcement method (Score:3)
Re:"can send text messages"/ban enforcement method (Score:4, Insightful)
I think sending texts during class on a basic cellphone is less distracting than a smartphone tied into dozens of apps and games. If you've ever tried to have a conversation with a child while they were playing an addictive mobile game, you'd know how little of what you say to them that they retain.
If kids are playing mobile games during class, it is effectively the same as not showing up to class at all.
Between lecture end and bell (Score:2)
If kids are playing mobile games during class, it is effectively the same as not showing up to class at all.
To what extent is this also true of the time between the end of the lecture and the bell that signals the end of the class period? Truancy law requires the student to remain in the classroom until that time.
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I wouldn't look at the law as a source of scientific truth. I don't have the data but I suspect there is measurable differences for students who play games during lectures versus those who are paying attention. But I'm skeptical there is as significant of a difference for students playing games after the lecture is over until the arbitrary start of the next class session.
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Hell, I remember back in the day, when the first LED Mattel Football handheld game came out.
Our schools finally put bans on us bringing them into school.
Kids will be kids, but I do feel that those distractions weren't quite so engrossing and distracting for as long a period of time. You could do a little paper football, then back to class attention and then come back and finish p
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I dunno, back in the day before cell phones, we were playing paper football with each other or something distracting like that.
Me too. But I think I could still hear and process a lecture while doing paper football. Maybe not 100%, but I think I absorbed some of the lecture.
Hell, I remember back in the day, when the first LED Mattel Football handheld game came out.
I'm from the Tiger Electronics and TI Calculator games era. I don't think I retained any of the lecture when I was playing these.
Kids will be kids, but I do feel that those distractions weren't quite so engrossing and distracting for as long a period of time.
Engrossing is definitely the word I was looking for. I think some allowances for differences between generations is acceptable as well. We can't realistically expect our children to have a childhood identical to our own. Especially sin
Re:"can send text messages"/ban enforcement method (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe even discuss different "off-book" topics and give the option of which questions to answer to not penalize absent students, but punish students who are perpetually on their phones and tuned out. "Professor, I should have got an A on this exam, it wasn't in the book..." "Next time, put away the phone."
I teach at the university level (upper level undergraduate course) and I am shocked at the number of students who simply do not show up to class and of those that do show up the number that spend the entire period playing games on their phones or computers.
I personally don't care, as at that level they are grown ups and can make their own decisions. However, I do make sure to tell them several times in the first few lectures that three will be material discussed in lecture and that will appear on the exams even though it is not in the text. Usually by about the third or fourth week of the term I can tell which students will be in A/B/C/F territory for each exam. The tiresome part for me is having to deal with the whiners who think they deserved a better grade. My response to them is always, "I grade very leniently, so if anything, your grade is a rather charitable reflection of the amount effort you put into the course."
Being someone who has a limited ability to multi-task, and recognizing my own limits, I can tell you that the vast majority of people that think they can multi-task greatly overestimate their ability. In fact, the younger they are, the more they tend to overestimate how good they are at multitasking.
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My oldest son's high school has a policy that allows smartphones to come into the building, but they need to be turned off during the school day. If the student takes them out at all during the day to use them, they can be confiscated and then the principal will have a nice chat with the parents about cell phone use in the building.
(My son actually only has a cheap flip phone because there have also been instances of smartphones being stolen from students. I doubt anyone will want to steal a cheap flip phon
Re:"can send text messages"/ban enforcement method (Score:4, Interesting)
I teach at the university level (upper level undergraduate course) and I am shocked at the number of students who simply do not show up to class and of those that do show up the number that spend the entire period playing games on their phones or computers.
A good buddy of mine was a University prof. He, too, allowed students to make their own decisions regarding their effort. The one difference is that he kept attendance (and attentiveness) records, specifically to deal with one scenario. All too often, adult students would bring in their angry parents who had footed the bill for a bad grade from what the student claimed was an "unfair teacher". After getting the adult student's permission to discuss the issue in front of the parent, he was generally able to change the entire discussion simply by showing the attendance records to the parents.
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Why would he ONLY teach the material included in the books and written exercises? That stuff can be mass produced. His job is to teach, not to churn out photocopies.
Yes, I was one of the people in the lecture hall who was actually interested in the topic. I would often ask extended questions about the topic to further my learning. Often enough the next person to raise their hand would ask 'will that be on the test?'
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If the student can read the book, and get the data from it, why do you care if they pay attention in the lectures? Lectures only exist because "just read the textbook" only work for a small percentage of the population.
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There's more to being educated than rote memorization and repetition.
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There's more to being educated than rote memorization and repetition.
But rote memorization and repetition will take you a long way in formal education!
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And formal education will take you a long way in wallpapering a room, but it's not cheap wallpaper.
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Sure, I totally agree. But I don't know how that's address by "lecture on things not in the book" and "ha, you did poorly on your test because you weren't paying attention."
Maybe if you want to go beyond rote memorization, engage the students in discussions or something. Or are you saying students should be able to opt out of discussions, but listen, and parrot that back on the exam at the end? Seems easier (and more corrective), for th
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Sure, I totally agree. But I don't know how that's address by "lecture on things not in the book" and "ha, you did poorly on your test because you weren't paying attention."
Are the "lecture" portions of class now just straight lectures? When I was in college (which, granted, was over a decade ago) we often used "lecture" time for relevant discussions, and the instructors would regularly use these discussions to create quiz material. The time was also used to pose critical thinking questions to the class, which you would never get from memorizing facts in a book.
I have a pretty high expectation of participation.
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We're not talking about college, we're talking about kids.
And I was using "lecture" to mean "lecture", because we were talking about cellphones distracting from lectures and teachers not reacting. And it's obvious when people aren't participating in a conversation, and that can be reacted to regardless of the cause.
For what it's worth, I think lectures should be videos views at home, and class should be used for discussions and helping children And cellphones should be banned. But that's harder, and I'm
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We're not talking about college, we're talking about kids.
Oh, right, duh. Guess I got off on a tangent. Basically ignore my last response.
For what it's worth, I think lectures should be videos views at home, and class should be used for discussions and helping children
On the one hand, I think that's a much better method of education than the antiquated classroom system currently in use; on the other, I fear that may only serve to further blur the line between "work life" and "home life," and personally I woudn't want to be the one to risk ruining a childhood by making it school-time, all the time.
And cellphones should be banned. But that's harder, and I'm not sure all the teachers we have are up to it.
Especially considering that more and more teachers are members of the "can't do anything without
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Discuss a topic that's not "in the book." Test students on it.
Make fake Wikipedia page first and see how many people answer with bogus material.
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That and the fact that austerity has led to more reasonable demand for mobile phone service among students.
1. Fiscally conservative voters approve property tax caps
2. School districts have to pinch pennies to make ends meet
3. School districts decide to cut bus service to the bare minimum (1 mile radius for elementary school, 1.5 mile radius for middle school, 2 mile radius for high school)
4. Students switch from discontinued student transit to riding a bicycle
5. Payphone operators cease maintaining payphone
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3. Is a good thing - students who walk/bike a few miles a day are less likely to be obese. I grew up in a town with no busing, and this was in the 90s -- unless they're handicapped, kids have legs for a reason.
6. Doesn't actually preclude a cell phone ban -- students could be required to keep them in their lockers during school hours and only remove them during lunch or when going home.
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students who walk/bike a few miles a day are less likely to be obese
But then who pays for a bike before the student is old enough to be employed, particularly if another child in the same neighborhood already snapped up all the lawns to mow and sidewalks to shovel?
unless they're handicapped, kids have legs for a reason.
Which raises the question of what to do with the handicapped students.
6. Doesn't actually preclude a cell phone ban -- students could be required to keep them in their lockers
Some districts have banned electronic devices even in school lockers.
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Well, back in my day, the parents of the child would sacrifice and save to BUY the kid things like bicycles and clothes, etc....
They don't do that these days?
Last time I looked, a basic bicycle didn't cost an arm and a leg. Hell, don't go to McDonalds for a month or so, and you could get close to money for a ba
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Well, back in my day, the parents of the child would sacrifice and save to BUY the kid things like bicycles and clothes, etc....
There was also probably more job security back in your day. Thus smartphones for children might be in part a workaround for the decline in labor union power.
Last time I looked, a basic bicycle didn't cost an arm and a leg. Hell, don't go to McDonalds for a month or so, and you could get close to money for a basic bicycle.
Some of these parents already shun fast food to make ends meet.
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Err...and how many bicycles could you buy for the price of a single smart phone?!?!?!?
I just looked at Academy Sports, decent bicycles, multi-speed ones even, are between $50-$100.
Hell, can you get a modern smart phone for
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Err...and how many bicycles could you buy for the price of a single smart phone?!?!?!?
I just looked at Academy Sports, decent bicycles, multi-speed ones even, are between $50-$100.
An entry level Android phone also runs about $100. Thus to answer your question: about one.
Not to mention the monthly payments you have to spend for service??
I don't pay more than $50 per year for service on my Coolpad Catalyst phone.
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Some of these parents already shun fast food to make ends meet.
A lot of poor and lower-middle-class people are poor specifically because they regularly eat fast food instead of cooking/fixing meals at home.
Which isn't to blame the fast food places. But a lot of poor people are poor at managing money.
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Without a phone, how should a cyclist who gets a flat tire seek assistance?
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But then who pays for a bike before the student is old enough to be employed
Who paid for the cell phone?
OMG mom! You expect me to go to school with last year's iPhone? iPhone X is only $1000. Everyone else is getting one.
Try to give a kid a bicycle and it had better be a bum bike.
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Who paid for the cell phone?
The parent bought an entry-level phone on a $50/year plan with limited minutes and no data. The parent's own phone may be a "Dubyaphone" on the Lifeline program.
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But then who pays for a bike before the student is old enough to be employed, particularly if another child in the same neighborhood already snapped up all the lawns to mow and sidewalks to shovel?
How about using the the money that would have been spent on the smartphone? Bikes don't have an additional monthly charge to remain useful, and a kid's bike is very much less expensive than a smartphone in the long run.
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Bikes don't have an additional monthly charge to remain useful
I can think of chain lube and replacement tubes and tires. But I concede that a child's bicycle is less likely to need the other replacement parts as the child grows out of it.
Payphones and less stranger danger hysteria (Score:2)
5. Payphone operators cease maintaining payphones due to reduced use by adults
How did we ever survive before cell phones?
Payphones were around then. I thought I mentioned that. But what I initially neglected to mention is that there wasn't quite as much "stranger danger" hysteria back then as what we have had lately, where police arrest parents for neglect for letting students walk to and from school [slashdot.org]. It took a federal law [slashdot.org] to curb that.
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How did we ever survive before cell phones?
We didn't. We are all dead now. And this is hell.
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My God...how did we EVER make alive to adulthood in the (not so long ago) days before cell phones of any type????
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My God...how did we EVER make alive to adulthood in the (not so long ago) days before cell phones of any type????
We did it by walking to school in that thunderstorm that he thinks is an issue in his point number 6.
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On the way to my new job, I drive by a local Middle School just before the school day starts there. There is a huge line of parents' cars that sometimes extends out onto the shoulder, which slowly crawls forward as each pupil is deposited on the sidewalk next to the school door.
I can only imagine the trouble you would get in if you just let your kid out in the parking lot and didn't queue up in the line to deposit them at the prescribed spot on the curb.
I walked to school when I was that age because of the
Next up, backpacks. (Score:3)
it'd be nice for my kid to be able to use a backpack to carry her schoolwork in. They aren't even allowed clear backpacks.
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Have you calculated the number of expected spills per year and the time cost of recovering from each spill? If so, have you raised this issue with school administration? If so, what was the administrator's reply?
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Bong water spills are definitely a bummer, man.
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Really? My son's locker is out of his way so he winds up carrying EVERYTHING he needs for the entire day in his backpack. It's a heavy monstrosity and I don't see how he carries it every day without hurting his back.
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Correct. The school has the kids carry one HUGE binder containing spiral notebooks for every class. It's infuriating, we're trying to find a way to move her to a different school next year. Event to the point where I'm going to fill out a form asking permission to move her out of district.
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Parents are presumed old enough to drive and rich enough to own a car and can therefore leave their phones in a locked car. Students not old enough to drive have no outside place in which to lock a phone, and some of these phone bans apply as well to indoor lockers.
Howzabout parental control ? (Score:2)
Can I get my kid's phone usage records, and if I see any text messages or network activity on his phone during school hours, he gets punished?
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Why would you punish your kid for finding a non-disruptive way to pass the time while sitting quietly between when the teacher ends the lecture and the bell?
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Lesson plans tend to be divided into one discrete lesson per lecture with a few minutes of slack time to accommodate questions and for the teacher occasionally taking somewhat longer than expected to finish a certain part. This means the teacher will try to finish slightly early on average so as not to finish late.
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Teachers now all have degrees from the 'Education Department' of the University. That's a stunted little sub-campus at some Universities where students progress on stunted little degree programs that are heavily laced with ideology.
Really, it's hard to get a teaching job now if you didn't have an 'Education Major' when in college, instead of getting a Liberal Arts or Science education.
The parents are the drivers of this (Score:5, Interesting)
As a teacher, I can tell that the main reason for relaxing the cell phone bans is the parents demanding it. the research is in, cell phones detract from learning.
The following is part of a letter I sent to my building administrator on this topic. The first point, that is cut out, but mentioned, had to do with my student to robot ratio.
The second is more generalized, yet it remains a problem. It is the cell phones in the school.
The research done by the London School of Economics showed that the benefit to a cell phone ban was the equivalent to an extra week of instruction. However, even more relevant to our district, is that the gain was driven by low income students. they showed an improvement equal to receiving three extra weeks of instruction per year.
Simply telling the students to put the phones is not enough. A study by the University of Chicago determined that the negative effects of the cell phone are present when the phone is in close proximity, such as in a backpack. When in close proximity, the addictive nature of the phone continues to interfere with the cognitive process.
Based on research, a simple ban of cell phones could improve the students education. In cases where the parent believes that their child needs a phone, and will not be swayed by research, a area of small lock boxes in the office would allow the students to secure their phones at the beginning of the day.
These are two proposals that would increase student engagement and learning.
Here I include summaries and abstracts from recent cell phone research:
a couple of studies that have been completed in an attempt to assess the impact the impact of having cell-phones in school on education.
The first is a study completed by the London School of Economics. Here is the abstract:
This paper investigates the impact of schools banning mobile phones on student test scores. By surveying schools in four English cities regarding their mobile phone policies and combining it with administrative data, we find that student performance in high stakes exams significantly increases post ban. We use a difference in differences (DID) strategy, exploiting variations in schools’ autonomous decisions to ban these devices, conditioning on a range of student characteristics and prior achievement. Our results indicate that these increases in performance are driven by the lowest achieving students. This suggests that restricting mobile phone use can be a low-cost policy to reduce educational inequalities.
Source: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/down... [lse.ac.uk]
A more readable summary is provided by CNN:
The authors looked at how phone policies at 91 schools in England have changed since 2001, and compared that data with results achieved in national exams taken at the age of 16. The study covered 130,000 pupils.
It found that following a ban on phone use, the schools' test scores improved by 6.4%. The impact on underachieving students was much more significant -- their average test scores rose by 14%.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/1... [cnn.com]
This study was supported by a recent study conducted by the University of Chicago. Further, they determined that the negative effect of the cell-phone were present even if the cell-phone is put away, such as in a backpack. From the Abstract:
Results from two experiments indicate that even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity.
Source: http://www.journals.uchicago.e... [uchicago.edu]
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That is interesting that people are distracted from just knowing the phone is nearby. I can only relate to an extent. I'm rarely without my phone since I bought my first one but I believe I'm not terribly distracted by it's presence. I mean that I want to make sure it's kept safe and secure, it's a valuable item, but I'm not thinking that I need to touch it constantly.
I remember putting my phone in my carry-on bag while flying, so I didn't have the bulky item in my pocket while folded up into a little ba
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A lot of the kids wear wrist watches. G-Shock watches are very popular.
Unfortunately I lost the watch I had in the Army. I searched all over for it too. It's gone.
Re:The parents are the drivers of this (Score:4, Interesting)
It's like putting a beer next to an alcoholic. Even if they don't drink it, their mind in completely focused on the temptation and not what's going on around them.
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What you are describing is similar to a test that was done. A marshmallow was placed on the desks of pre-school students. They weer then told that the teacher had to step away. If they would wait until the teacher got back, before eating their marshmallow they would be given a second one as a reward for waiting for the teacher. Some waited and got a second, some ate theirs right away.
the study doesn't end there.
Many years later a different group of researchers got hold of that study and the raw data. They t
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I wonder if it would help to just tell parents flat out that they are advocating less education in exchange for a trivial boost to convenience.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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it's a complete different type of blatant disrespect
No. It really isn't. Self-justifying it as "kids these days" doesn't make them any worse or what you did any better. Whether sending someone an SMS or a piece of folded paper, whether you're doodling or googling, in both cases the same result is achieved in the same level of disrespect.
Entitled fucking parents, by the sound of it. (Score:2, Interesting)
"they are bending to the pressure of parents who want to be able to reach their kids." ...during school hours. If they need to reach their kids during school THEN THEY SHOULD CALL THE FUCKING OFFICE, the way it has always been.
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"they are bending to the pressure of parents who want to be able to reach their kids." ...during school hours. If they need to reach their kids during school THEN THEY SHOULD CALL THE FUCKING OFFICE, the way it has always been.
Learn to laugh this off and don't worry. When entitled parents raise dumb ass kids who hold the digitally-retarded attention span of a rabid squirrel, they'll reap their helicopter parenting rewards in spades by warehousing those "kids" well into their 20s and 30s.
"Blocking" social media (Score:5, Interesting)
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Turn off WiFi, use Cellular Data. Now you're not restricted by the school's IT policies.
Is there a "non-smart" phone any more? (Score:3)
I remember years ago I worked at a place that didn't allow cameras on the property. Cameras in phones were just getting popular at the time. My phone was getting old and unreliable and so I went shopping for a phone without a camera. The guy at the store seemed very confused at this request. We looked through their catalog of phones and I was able to find something suitable, which I bought.
While we were looking for a phone without a camera the sales droid suggested I buy a nicer phone and just punch out the camera lens to render the camera inoperable, so I could find a nicer phone and yet still comply with my employer's demands. I thought the guy was insane to suggest such a thing. How would my employer know the camera was truly inoperable unless there was obvious damage to the phone? In which case I'd have a brand new phone that was intentionally broken. How would I explain this if I ever needed a repair later? "No, I want the phone fixed BUT NOT THE CAMERA IN IT!" How would I know that no other damage was done, and if I did then we are back to fixing the phone but still leaving obvious damage to the camera function.
Weeks after I got my camera-less phone they lifted the ban on phones with cameras. Too many people complained and the company gave in. They just said that getting caught taking a photo on the premises could be grounds for dismissal. That was of course impossible to enforce. They could certainly walk someone out the door for taking pictures of something and posting it on the internet but that's closing the barn door after the horses left.
I later went back to university and had one instructor say during the first class period that anyone using an electronic device during class would be marked as absent that day. That's not just a ban on devices for quizzes and tests but during class discussion. That was the first and last time I saw that happen as every class since would have nearly every student with a laptop or electronic tablet for taking notes, or whatever. Of course some people were just goofing off, like one guy I saw that was watching a soccer game in the middle of class. It's not like people didn't goof off in class before electronics, I remember doing crossword puzzles during lectures.
I remember when pagers were a thing and schools wanted to ban those. They gave up on banning pagers a long time ago too, and not just because they fell out of use. Parents that were able to afford a two-way pager for their kids can have a lot of influence on the schools.
Everything old is new again. History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.
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The class was a course on literature, so there was a component of the grade based on classroom discussion. The instructor kept some kind of record on who contributed to discussion and graded that somehow, along with assignments and examinations.
I had one other class that made the class discussion part of the grade, that was a philosophy class. Back then laptops were more like "luggables" than when I had the literature class years later. Laptops then were much heavier and unlikely to keep power without a
Access in an emergency case (Score:2)
In my school days the parents would call the office and the secretary would either take a message or the student would located in class and sent to the office to make or receive a call. I can recall hearing the school intercom calling people to the office or the in house system ringing in the class the student was supposed to be requesting the teacher send the student to the office.
Re: (Score:2)
That's the way things still are in my oldest son's high school. During the school day, you need to call the office to get in touch with a student. After school activities allow cell phones to be used, but during the school day they have to be put away and silenced.
I disagree... (Score:2)
How so ? They are not going to let the kid go anywhere, emergency or not without a guardian arranging it thru the school. They are not going to let even the guardian just show up at the school and take the child without checking in at the office. I am all for everyone having a phone or some means to reach emergency services etc. I see the kid getting an emergency message and jumping up and running to the office or just failing let anyone know what is going on causing far more impact as the campus is locked
Re: (Score:2)
Smartphones didn't hurt my kid in high school (Score:2)
The tech solution... (Score:1)
Simply jam cell frequencies in the school except maybe at certain times of the day.
Second install cell phone towers on school property; increases the number of ways you can spy on the kids and over parent them.
Third make the teens (and school employees) buy special school cell phones which operate on a different frequency and whose software you can lock down.
The cost would be approximately $150 per child. Alternatively you could buy tablets instead of phones for actual school use (ebooks and digital homewor
Re: (Score:2)
Simply jam cell frequencies in the school except maybe at certain times of the day.
There is federal law [fcc.gov] prohibiting this "simple" solution.
Calls and messages from parents could be allowed and texts between students could be limited and monitored.
This, too is illegal [wikipedia.org] throughout most of the world without notifying at least one and sometimes both parties to the conversation.
Requiring phone calls to students to go through the office is a pretty good solution. The office is much better prepared to minimize disruption in the classroom and is able to support a true emergency (e.g. death of a family member) with immediate emotional support / counseling to the student or the classroom.