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.
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.
Hilarious of you to say considering 1 smart phone with internet access has more accessible information than your entire school library of physical books but yeah they have ‘nearly 0 educational benefit’. Nevermind all the apps/YouTube channels dedicated to learning something. You may not believe it but I passed college algebra using Khan Academy because my actual teacher sucked so bad at teaching I was almost failing before I switched to the academies online tutorials. Can a smart phone be used for mindless shit? Absolutely, but I’d also bet your library has fiction books in it too. Should we remove them simply because they provide ‘nearly zero educational benefit’? Why stop at fiction then? Why aren’t we removing all aspects of curriculum that provide ‘nearly zero educational benefit’?
Hilarious of you to say considering 1 smart phone with internet access has more accessible information than your entire school library of physical books but yeah they have ‘nearly 0 educational benefit’. Nevermind all the apps/YouTube channels dedicated to learning something. You may not believe it but I passed college algebra using Khan Academy because my actual teacher sucked so bad at teaching I was almost failing before I switched to the academies online tutorials. Can a smart phone be used for mindless shit? Absolutely, but I’d also bet your library has fiction books in it too. Should we remove them simply because they provide ‘nearly zero educational benefit’?
You could have said all of that without being an asshole about it.
Phones can have its usage restricted in school during classes and activities so students (hopefully) pay attention. Outside these ours when studying in their own, they can use it the way you mentioned in their aid with topics they need help with.