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I still don't understand why they were ever allowed in the first place. I went to public school in the 00s and if you got caught with your phone out in class, i

I still don't understand why they were ever allowed in the first place. I went to public school in the 00s and if you got caught with your phone out in class, it would be confiscated until the end of the day. Repeat offenders would need their parents to come up to the school to get the phone back.

SoftTalker 2y ago
Same when my kids were in school.
ethbr1 2y ago
Parents.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  And the PTA + Administrators not willing to back teachers when they needed to be backed.
- itake 2y ago
  On Sept 11, 2001, I remember parents freaking out and pulling kids out of school. After that, parents were giving kids phones earlier for safety reasons.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    As a parent, I recognize safety impulses. But I also recognize the usefulness of my being a first responder, even with some training, is negligible to negative.
slothtrop 2y ago
This was my experience. My guess some combination of teachers losing control and being under pressure from helicopter parents led to either policy change or their looking the other way.
kube-system 2y ago
They might not have been allowed before. This is a law that prohibits them. Many schools prohibit phones as a matter of policy.
tootie 2y ago
If your argument if "that's how it was in my day" then it's not very convincing.
- larvaetron 2y ago
  I guess I just don't share the sentiment that giving every child in a classroom unfettered access to content designed to distract them while a teacher is trying to teach the class is a good thing. I'm having difficulty understanding why you'd need to be convinced that it isn't.
  - tootie 2y ago
    I have two teenagers and it doesn't sound like it's a huge problem. And attempts to stifle phone usage (yondr pouches) are just creating friction. Maybe having a phone out is very obvious but kids have been doodling, daydreaming, talking and passing paper notes forever. If the downside of phones was so overwhelmingly obvious we wouldn't have such a dearth of measurable evidence.
mike_d 2y ago
Because phones have become the command center for our lives. Your FreeStyle Libre pings your phone when you have low blood sugar. When your watch detects a serious fall or a heart abnormality your phone calls emergency services. You use your phone to let the dog walker in, check the camera to see if you turned off the garden hose or left it running, use it to find your lost wallet/keys/bag, etc. Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing.
- kube-system 2y ago
  > Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing. I think that's the strongest argument against this. The ideal case would be a room full of kids who are taught to have the discipline to not touch their phones when inappropriate. However, I think the real issue is that teachers aren't able to effectively police this... probably partially due to class sizes, and our society's cultural lack of respect for rule-following and self-discipline.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  > Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing. We specifically engineer acculturation processes to incrementally add responsibility for a reason. Nobody gives a 2 year old a loaded pistol and then tells them they can't have candy. IMHO, a smartphone with unregulated addictive apps is too much responsibility for grade-level children during school hours. (Hell, it's too much responsibility for many adults I know)
  - neal_jones 2y ago
    Agreed. We’ve pitted developing minds against machine learning - hardly surprising that students are distracted. (Written on a smart phone while at work)
  - mike_d 2y ago
    I think a much better solution is Apple just geofencing schools in the US and not allowing social media apps to be opened.
underseacables 2y ago
Because Columbine.

SoftTalker 2y ago

Same when my kids were in school.

ethbr1 2y ago

Parents.

pavel_lishin 2y ago
And the PTA + Administrators not willing to back teachers when they needed to be backed.
itake 2y ago
On Sept 11, 2001, I remember parents freaking out and pulling kids out of school. After that, parents were giving kids phones earlier for safety reasons.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  As a parent, I recognize safety impulses. But I also recognize the usefulness of my being a first responder, even with some training, is negligible to negative.

slothtrop 2y ago

This was my experience. My guess some combination of teachers losing control and being under pressure from helicopter parents led to either policy change or their looking the other way.

kube-system 2y ago

They might not have been allowed before. This is a law that prohibits them. Many schools prohibit phones as a matter of policy.

tootie 2y ago

If your argument if "that's how it was in my day" then it's not very convincing.

larvaetron 2y ago
I guess I just don't share the sentiment that giving every child in a classroom unfettered access to content designed to distract them while a teacher is trying to teach the class is a good thing. I'm having difficulty understanding why you'd need to be convinced that it isn't.
- tootie 2y ago
  I have two teenagers and it doesn't sound like it's a huge problem. And attempts to stifle phone usage (yondr pouches) are just creating friction. Maybe having a phone out is very obvious but kids have been doodling, daydreaming, talking and passing paper notes forever. If the downside of phones was so overwhelmingly obvious we wouldn't have such a dearth of measurable evidence.

mike_d 2y ago

Because phones have become the command center for our lives. Your FreeStyle Libre pings your phone when you have low blood sugar. When your watch detects a serious fall or a heart abnormality your phone calls emergency services. You use your phone to let the dog walker in, check the camera to see if you turned off the garden hose or left it running, use it to find your lost wallet/keys/bag, etc. Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing.

kube-system 2y ago
> Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing. I think that's the strongest argument against this. The ideal case would be a room full of kids who are taught to have the discipline to not touch their phones when inappropriate. However, I think the real issue is that teachers aren't able to effectively police this... probably partially due to class sizes, and our society's cultural lack of respect for rule-following and self-discipline.
ethbr1 2y ago
> Childhood is where you teach positive behaviors and responsibility. Just chucking phones out the window to avoid the problem teaches nothing. We specifically engineer acculturation processes to incrementally add responsibility for a reason. Nobody gives a 2 year old a loaded pistol and then tells them they can't have candy. IMHO, a smartphone with unregulated addictive apps is too much responsibility for grade-level children during school hours. (Hell, it's too much responsibility for many adults I know)
- neal_jones 2y ago
  Agreed. We’ve pitted developing minds against machine learning - hardly surprising that students are distracted. (Written on a smart phone while at work)
- mike_d 2y ago
  I think a much better solution is Apple just geofencing schools in the US and not allowing social media apps to be opened.

underseacables 2y ago

Because Columbine.