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

washingtonpost.com

221–230 of 252 posts

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

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly, that is not True.

I'm not sure what you mean, it's clearly true where I live.

Good point. I am in the United States. Here, student’s rights are significantly curtailed when they enter a public schools building, and - generally - districts have the legal authority to restrict behavior that "materially and substantially interferes" with education. If school districts in the US want to go “zero smartphone”, their problems would be cultural/political - not legal.

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

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What could you actually do with an Apple Watch though? Sounds like a better solution if you really need a communication link that isn’t as distracting as a smart phone. Texting is still possible, just not very convenient.

Yes, texting. They text amongst their friends who are in different classes.

Parental control the watch's functionality during school hours to just calling or texting 911 and mom/dad?

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

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, then just don't bring it in? I don't why America constantly acts like we have unique problems no one does. Most schools in EU just bans cellphone usage during school hours either by taking it away or barred from bringing it in and it's just effective. Humanity dealt with periods/medications/emergencies long before smartphones and can still do.

I'm right in the middle of Europe. Why not bring it in? I don't understand why they should behave as if they lived in 19th century. They're people living in 21st century, making full use of new technology - nothing wrong about that. It's bullshit to demand they have to go home to get their phone before they go on with their day after school - not to mention they use the phones before school too. My siblings buy break…

Honestly, this sounds more and more like an association trigger and addiction seeking behavior.

You may want to: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-an-addicted-brain-work...

Additionally, each one of those apps has nearly full access to all your private information. Accurint goes out of their way to get most data about people.

That entire ecosystem lacks adversarial review. Additionally, coercively forcing you to only use those apps while removing more reliable methods for interacting is just one more way they can monetize you. You've got a rough road ahead.

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

#224
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 the text. "Road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 1–54"[0] I wonder if you speeding in your car increased the likely hood of death for someone more than collecting your son from a rumored school shooting. Not saying you were wrong to do that, obviously…

Some enterprising individual should figure up how many highway miles driven with a kid in the car it takes to exceed the annual risk from school shootings. I bet it's not many, but nobody thinks a thing of driving their kids around.

USDOT says 1.34 deaths per 100,000,000 miles driven. Assuming 32mph average speed[1] that's 1 death per 2,332,089 hours driven.

There were 40 students killed in school shootings in 2022 [2]. Assuming 50M students and 2K hours/year in school that equates to 1 death per 2,500,000,000 hours spent in the classroom.

The difference is a factor of 1,072 meaning that if you drive with your kid for 2 hours, you have exposed them to a higher risk of dying in a traffic accident than an entire year of risk from school shootings.

Definitely a stat I'll keep in my back pocket.

[1] my ass [2] https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year...

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

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't get my first real phone until after high school, while everyone else had one. I graduated salutatorian. I was able to focus on my homework after school for hours without distractions. I had a computer at home, but it was pretty crappy.

There are also many students who have phones in high school and graduate valedictorian, so I’m not sure we can draw any conclusions.

Quality measurements and citation needed.

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

#226
post #168
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has a real social impact if they don't have a phone. They will miss out on things. You might argue "but if they were real friends..", but the issue is they may never get to be real friends if they keep missing out on things. My kids get phones in 9th grade, but it is clear they aren't to be on them during school. What sets me apart from a lot of parents, though, is that I'll believe and support their teacher.

> They will miss out on things. Like what?

"everyone's meeting up at the pizza place to hang out"

There are obviously ways around that -- a lot just won't bother.

And sure, someone that isn't that courteous might not be worth being around, but if it's a loose social group with a common interest there will be others there that might be.

Their social lives revolve around their phones. Not having a phone impacts it greatly.

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

#227
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You've computed, incorrectly but that's not relevant here, P(his kid dies in a school shooting). What you should have computed is P(his kid dies in a school shooting|rumor of shooting threat at school that enough people believe that they are leaving the school).

I'm not good enough at maths to do that, maybe you could fill us in? :)

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

#229
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a lot to debate. I don't agree with this "addiction" argument at all. My siblings (much younger, school age) don't have social media by their own volition. Apparently they're immune to this addiction - or perhaps it's not really addiction, but something different. Taking away their phones because others can't handle themselves is wrong. So yeah, a lot to debate.

There's a lot of supporting material about addiction and young adults. Social media is just one avenue or road on a path of thousands at your fingertips. You don't control it, the phone manufacturer and the app makers do. You may be shown something, it looks like fun, and then wastes hours, days, or months, on a simple dopamine 'loop' that's been designed (Octalysis Framework). You may spend a lot of money on worthle…

> If your parents didn't stop you, would you be able to choose and have only 1-2 servings of your favorite sugar snack? or if left alone would you go through a long process of rationalizing just one more and before you know it the entire bag is gone.

"You can't eat just one." Fortunately I seem to be able to easily resist the lure of potato chips/crisps and actually feel full after eating a few of them. I think the greasiness or fat content helps. I can enjoy the hyper-palatable salty, savory and spicy versions but a 200kcal bag is really overkill.

But some hyper-palatable foods are so well optimized that they can be really hard to resist; they press all of the buttons of deliciousness while making you hungry for another one.

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

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>active shooter situation I feel like active shooters shouldn't be a situation in a school in the first place.

And I feel like cars should never crash and there should be no wars famines or tsunamis. We live in the real world, plan accordingly. Your feelings about it don't matter.

If you’re not careful you’re going to convince more parents to send their children to school armed.
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