Cellphone ban in schools!

[WinnipegFan]

i hope school boards step uo and ban them entirely. This is long overdue.

https://dailyhive.com/calgary/albert...s-social-media

[Lubicon]

Good luck with that, will be interesting to see how goes.
My two kids were the last two in their class to get phones (grade 8 or 9 IIRC) and we were essentially pushed to get them in the first place by their teachers. Kids were told to take pictures of class notes on overheads, projectors, chalkboard etc. rather than take notes by hand in order to speed things up.

That said, they are incredibly disruptive/distracting in class too.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Good luck with that, will be interesting to see how goes.
My two kids were the last two in their class to get phones (grade 8 or 9 IIRC) and we were essentially pushed to get them in the first place by their teachers. Kids were told to take pictures of class notes on overheads, projectors, chalkboard etc. rather than take notes by hand in order to speed things up.

That’s so dumb. How many of those pictures were ever looked at again by students? You could say the same about notes, but just the act of taking notes imprints content in your memory in a way that taking a photo doesn’t.

[dino7c]

Its absolutely insane...highschools are just full of kids starring at their phones all ####ing day ignoring everything. Parents think they need them for safety or some bull#### about notes lol. Like we didn't survive before this garbage.

We have a world where 90% of people are addicted to their phones and soon will with have kids with parents who never existed before starring at a phone all day was "normal"

[Scroopy Noopers]

Good and obvious decision. Ontario also implementing bans:

Students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be required to keep phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day, unless explicitly permitted by an educator. For students in Grades 7 to 12, cellphones will not be permitted during class time unless explicitly directed by the educator. Moreover, social media websites will be removed from all school networks and devices, and report cards will include comment on students’ distraction levels in class. The government will provide mandatory training for teachers and new supports for students and parents.

[EVERLAST]

This to me should have been done long ago. Soon kids will be using some AI platform to do their homework.
It's disrespectful to the teachers and I'm willing to be 90% of parents haven't a clue about the browsing history of kids these days as it is.

Off topic but screen time In general I bet exceeds greatly thr attention span of 75% of kids who likely are borderline illiterate. Smart phones have removed the requirements for most basics in life....the average person likely can't function for 2 hours without thier phone .....and how anyone can continue to encourage this crap is beyond me.

My own son who'll be 18 soon has never been given a cellphone and never encouraged to have one. I can actually have a conversation with him at breakfast and dinner.

I've gotten him used to repeating back to me our conversation just to prove to me he's listening....I don't say do as I say not as I do like too many people either.

We're all a bunch of zombies

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

That’s so dumb. How many of those pictures were ever looked at again by students? You could say the same about notes, but just the act of taking notes imprints content in your memory in a way that taking a photo doesn’t.

This to me is a big deal, the exercise of taking notes was huge for me. I know if I just took pictures of black boards or whatever would be a waste for me, I would never look at them again.


And yeah, cellphones are not like the old days, they are amazing cheating devices.

[Table 5]

Good. There's a time and place for phones, but it's not in the classroom. Kids have a hard enough time staying focused as-is these days, and I'm sure the whole situation is a nightmare for teachers to deal with.

[Monahammer]

I recently turned my non-wifi data off just for fun, I leave it on for maps and for my work email app (probably should turn this off too...) but it has already greatly enhanced my ability to not get distracted and focus on the moment. Highly recommend for people not looking to make a hard break from apps and stuff, but looking to diminish their screen time in a very easy way.

I have two young kids, but I don't plan on getting them smart phones until they're in the 16 year old range... I didn't get one until then because of science, but I think they need to live in the real world fully before they learn to shove things away and escape it to the comfort of the 4 inch screen.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

My two kids were the last two in their class to get phones (grade 8 or 9 IIRC)

Any tips for this? We want to take a similar path, and I'm sure this wasn't always easy to manage with all of their peers trying to drag them down with them.

Originally Posted by dino7c

Parents think they need them for safety or some bull#### about notes lol. Like we didn't survive before this garbage.

And things are even safer than when we navigated life without constant connection. I'd speculate the odds of your kid offing themself because of bullying on social media is a lot higher than having your life saved because you were able to call for help or be geolocated.

[Buff]

So, will the school boards get an increase to their tech budgets to supply more devices when teacher's require them? A couple times per month the teachers ask us to allow our kids to bring devices to school for some interactive learning thing. They don't have enough devices to go around for these events so they encourage kids to byod.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This to me is a big deal, the exercise of taking notes was huge for me. I know if I just took pictures of black boards or whatever would be a waste for me, I would never look at them again.


And yeah, cellphones are not like the old days, they are amazing cheating devices.

My son was telling me a classmate waits for the teacher to turn around or answer someone else's question before he brings out his phone to lookup answers. It isn't hard to do if you know how to act. So, the banning could be good in this instance.

[Whynotnow]

As a parent with two teens, this seems like a no brainer and should’ve been the way it went, at some point control was lost on this.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Any tips for this? We want to take a similar path, and I'm sure this wasn't always easy to manage with all of their peers trying to drag them down with them.




And things are even safer than when we navigated life without constant connection. I'd speculate the odds of your kid offing themself because of bullying on social media is a lot higher than having your life saved because you were able to call for help or be geolocated.

We let our kids have old devices but they would only connect to WiFi. They were so old that they weren't that great for them to have in school anyway.

Our rule was once they turn 16 and get their license they can get a cel-phone with a plan and once they turn 18 they're paying for it on their own. Our kids just listened to us. We gave them a lot of trust and didn't try to be overly controlling on things and they respected us for that.

[You Need a Thneed]

Teaching kids digital literacy and responsible use is much more important than bans.

They literally use the devices to get lessons, assignments and notes!

(Parent of 2 teenagers)

[Torture]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

This to me should have been done long ago. Soon kids will be using some AI platform to do their homework.

Soon? This is already happening.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Phones are not just for apps though. A lot of things are going digital.

A lot of things are done via email now, or things like Teams. That is not going to chance, and it is going more and more that way with the push to go paperless.

[The Big Chill]

What would this actually change? Wouldn’t phones already be against the rules in most classrooms if they are being a distraction? I guess this would maybe help teachers enforce the rules?

[Johnny Makarov]

Is this the first good thing the UCP has done in 6 years? lol

[GGG]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

What would this actually change? Wouldn’t phones already be against the rules in most classrooms if they are being a distraction? I guess this would maybe help teachers enforce the rules?

Surprisingly no, our schools cell phone rules pretty much changed yearly I assume based on the principle and vice principles opinions on the education vs the distractive value.

I think nice top down directives here shield everyone from whiny parents and kids who disagree or want something different. There just is no need for a phone to be on during class.