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Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#51
post #2

There's a phrase for something that people can't stop using -- addictive substance. We (and companies) need to ditch the equivocation and be honest about what we created. ( Edit ) > Parents have been split on the issue, with many critics insisting their children need phones in case of an emergency. Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. Someone shouldn't be texting…

> Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. We live in Plano, TX, just a few minutes south of the Allen Outlet massacre. Yesterday my son texted me at noon "Shooting threat at school" and "It’s a rumor though but a lot of people are leaving anyway". You can bet your life I was in my car and speeding down the street to get him out ASAP within 60 seconds of receiving th…

Here’s why I downvoted:

It actually would have been better if neither your son nor you knew about nearby shooting.

It had nothing to do with the school your son was attending. That you responded in a panic is due to a common pattern of miscommunication during an emergency. The least effective response to an emergency is everyone panicking and operating independently of each other and ignorant of the ground truth.

How did the rumor of the school shooting begin? Probably from another student responding to some quick take on their socials? What if they didn’t have their phone? Would this even have caused a false panic in the first place?

Everyone take the time to look up the road death statistics to remind yourself what you really need to worry about. Always use your turn signal, even for your driveway. Slow down, but not too much… drive with the flow of traffic. Don’t change lanes in an intersection. Don’t swerve out of the way of a white-tailed dear, just try and punt the thing with the front of your car and count the hang time. Yield to the right at a 4-way intersection. Again, always use your turn signal, even for your driveway… why the drive way? Force the good habit!

I live in Texas. My wife is a public schoolteacher. We are coming for your son’s phone and we will convince enough people to agree with us.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#52
post #2

There's a phrase for something that people can't stop using -- addictive substance. We (and companies) need to ditch the equivocation and be honest about what we created. ( Edit ) > Parents have been split on the issue, with many critics insisting their children need phones in case of an emergency. Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. Someone shouldn't be texting…

> Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. We live in Plano, TX, just a few minutes south of the Allen Outlet massacre. Yesterday my son texted me at noon "Shooting threat at school" and "It’s a rumor though but a lot of people are leaving anyway". You can bet your life I was in my car and speeding down the street to get him out ASAP within 60 seconds of receiving th…

I'm a parent of two school aged kids, one of whom attends school 10 minutes away. In a state that's had multiple school shootings as well.

I still accept that if something happens, it's going to play out before I rambo in and fix things.

I have firearms in the house and am trained in their use, but I'm not a professional. In a chaotic, lethal situation, even my presence as a transporter is only going to increase confusion and delay professionals doing their job.

What's going to save lives (including my kids') in a crisis is their knowing (1) how to handle themselves, (2) stay present and think critically, and (3) follow good directions when they receive them.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that phones/apps/social media/video games are addictive (the ones that aren't just don't get popular) but I disagree with your proposed framework for identifying "addictive" things for children in schools. Schools are very artificial environments with a massive lack of stimulation and self-agency for young developing human children. Damn near anything is "addictive" in that environment - books, doodling, orig…

Reminds me of a rat study that I forget the details on, but essentially they gave cocaine to rats in a sterile basic cage, and they went ham Then years later, a researcher refuted the claim of the original landmark study (regarding addition), by giving the rats a sanctuary with other rats, area to roam, basically a mini park, I believe the rats either didn’t take the cocaine, or did it once and didn’t like it after.…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

It was morphine, and failed to replicate.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#54

Access to phones and social media is a global phenomena. Is the supposed academic issues equally global too?

Parents in other countries may back teachers and admin in banning or heavily restricting phone use in schools, at higher rates than they do in the US.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#55
post #2

There's a phrase for something that people can't stop using -- addictive substance. We (and companies) need to ditch the equivocation and be honest about what we created. ( Edit ) > Parents have been split on the issue, with many critics insisting their children need phones in case of an emergency. Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. Someone shouldn't be texting…

> Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. We live in Plano, TX, just a few minutes south of the Allen Outlet massacre. Yesterday my son texted me at noon "Shooting threat at school" and "It’s a rumor though but a lot of people are leaving anyway". You can bet your life I was in my car and speeding down the street to get him out ASAP within 60 seconds of receiving th…

I understand your concern towards the difficult situation and your immediate action to look out for your family.

However, your anecdotal experience is still a "false positive" (fortunately), which doesn't allow us to conclude that, in the case of an actual emergency such as a school shooting, children with phones are statistically safer than children without phones.

But I'm genuinely interested in such a study, and I believe data is already available for us to compare the differences in these kinds of occurrences before the emergence of smartphones in schools and after. That would provide a north for making decisions that truly improve security for us and our loved ones.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#56
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Don't worry. I've seen lot of school administration treat students as things to be controlled, not people.

They're half-formed people who do often need their behavior controlled in some way. Some students or student bodies may be mature enough to be responsible for themselves, but not all.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. We live in Plano, TX, just a few minutes south of the Allen Outlet massacre. Yesterday my son texted me at noon "Shooting threat at school" and "It’s a rumor though but a lot of people are leaving anyway". You can bet your life I was in my car and speeding down the street to get him out ASAP within 60 seconds of receiving th…

285 children have died in US school shootings since 1764. In 2021, 50 million students were enrolled in public schools in prekindergarten to grade 12. That's a 0.00057% chance your kid dies in a school shooting. You are being hysterical.

We WERE at the Allen Outlets on Saturday. We left 5 minutes before the shooting began. If I had purchased one more item from a store we would have been right there.

Tell me again how I am being hysterical. This country is going down in flames and not everyone can see the fire.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#58
Strange. Phones were banned when I was in school. As in, obviously you'd have a phone, you just wouldn't have it out and be messing with it during classes. Almost all the students were reasonably following this.

We also used to have a rule where if your phone made noise during class you'd have to bring the whole class a cake the next day. That was pretty fun.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#59

Its overdue. As a principal I used to ban phones in our school. Back before every kid had one. If they were caught playing on them or if it rang during class, the phone went to the teacher's desk til the end of class. If it happened a second time, it came to my office til the end of the day. And a 3rd violation meant it stayed in my office til the end of the week. That last one rarely happened as any child who lost a…

Schools take away so much control from students that it’s natural they want to hold on to whatever they have left.

Re: Students can’t get off their phones. Schools have had enough

#60
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is a red herring and justification for helicopter parents to normalize their micromanaging. We live in Plano, TX, just a few minutes south of the Allen Outlet massacre. Yesterday my son texted me at noon "Shooting threat at school" and "It’s a rumor though but a lot of people are leaving anyway". You can bet your life I was in my car and speeding down the street to get him out ASAP within 60 seconds of receiving th…

I'm a parent of two school aged kids, one of whom attends school 10 minutes away. In a state that's had multiple school shootings as well. I still accept that if something happens, it's going to play out before I rambo in and fix things. I have firearms in the house and am trained in their use, but I'm not a professional. In a chaotic, lethal situation, even my presence as a transporter is only going to increase conf…

(4) preventing crazy people from acquiring firearms in the first place.
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