I personally think that responsible smartphone use should be learned and practiced, rather than outright banning them.
I think this shows that adults are terribly addicted to their devices and think if they can’t stop using them, children won’t either. They certainly can’t teach how to use phones responsibly if they can’t do it themselves. Unfortunately for children the result is an outright ban.
He added: “We completely understand the legitimate concerns around the use of mobile phones, including cyberbullying, the impact of extended screen time on mental health, and the lack of regulation of big technology companies. The fact is though that the widespread use of smartphones is a societal issue and problems that result from this are more likely to arise outside of the school gates.”
Banning phones in school does not help to fix any of this. At most it just pushes it to the rest of their lives. Maybe we should be looking at educating our children about these topics, not ignoring them for as long as possible…
I think this shows that adults are terribly addicted to their devices and think if they can’t stop using them, children won’t either. They certainly can’t teach how to use phones responsibly if they can’t do it themselves. Unfortunately for children the result is an outright ban.
Yeah, so we need to tackle the problem in some way, not just ignoring it with a ban. A ban teaches them nothing about how to use their devices responsibly. Additionally - the probably should be some legislation on what tech companies are doing here as well. Things like facebook pushing any content it can for more views even if they have shown to have negative impacts on peoples mental health is something that really should be regulated. Profits at the expense of peoples mental health should not be allowed.
Maybe we should be looking at educating our children about these topics, not ignoring them for as long as possible…
Educator here. That sounds like a great plan…if the students would put their phones down for long enough to teach them anything
This is the exact issue teachers are facing. There is very little teaching that can break through the continuous cycle of dopamine hits these kids are receiving into their still-developing brains. This is not an education problem. This is a design issue that teachers cannot be expected to simply “fix” for society.
I agree with your points on regulating businesses though, since they are clearly the ones to blame.
This is a design issue that teachers cannot be expected to simply “fix” for society.
Yes, which a ban wont help to fix at all either - at least not in the long term. Education IMO is still an important part of fixing society though, especially if you can get to children before they have phones ingrained into their lives. But I don’t think this is on teachers alone to fix - it needs to be more systemic changes in education systems. At the very least far more (or any) research needs to be done to find actual effective measures that we could do.
But equally, if not more important is also working to fix other areas outside of education, like regulating how much businesses can exploit us.
There are no quick or easy or even single answer here. Defiantly not just an out right ban with no other plans in place to actually fix the systemic issues at play.
Yeah, I’m sorry, but I respectfully disagree. I have been a strong proponent for technology in schools; however, in recent years, I see the bad faaaaaar outweighing the good. Maybe that’s just my experience, but we cannot ignore it like it’s no one’s experience. These devices are awful. They provide nearly zero educational benefit, especially in schools with 1:1 devices. They are a distraction tool at best and a legal liability at worst.
An outright ban is exactly the right play here, until families, companies, and society can come to the table and figure out how to ethically integrate into schools — not the other way around.
Also educator here.
Sociocultural theory and ecological systems micro and mesosystems paint a picture of how learning is not only done from us.
Family/Caregivers have the majority of the role to play in responsible usage of these devices as they are the one’s giving them to the children and enabling such behaviour in their lives.
I think you make a good point here, except that the family and caregivers who are supposed to be helping educate children are the exact same adults who are also addicted to their phones.
We’ve kicked the can down the street long enough and I believe we need to make a stand now, if we are to course-correct the issues we’ve permitted into our schools and larger society.
