New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools • Hacker News Board

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#21

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:31 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #14

This just feels like more social panic pandering from Hochul. I sincerely doubt this will have any appreciable affect on kids well-being. My older kid's high school just leans way in. They use phones in class for tasks. They watch videos, do research, use calculator aops, Google Classroom. The teachers who won't answer email are the ones who are just being stubborn.

> The teachers who won't answer email are the ones who are just being stubborn.

Is that relevant to the cellphones-in-school bit?

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#22

Post by strawhatdev » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:31 PM UTC

rpcope1 wrote: post #13

Good, I don't see any good reason for kids to have smartphones in school. If someone needs to get a hold of the kid, the old fashioned way of just calling the school still works just fine.

Medical devices, e.g. (some) insulin pumps like the Tandem Mobi, are managed via smartphone apps only. It's an unfortunate fact of life that life supporting technology can increasingly only be interfaced via smartphones.

From my perspective, that's an unfortunate but ultimately good reason for some kids to have smartphones.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#23

Post by insane_dreamer » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:32 PM UTC

As the father of a middle school student, I whole-heartedly support this. Hopefully other states will follow suit.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#24

Post by beanjuiceII » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:35 PM UTC

strawhatdev wrote: post #22

rpcope1 wrote: post #13

Good, I don't see any good reason for kids to have smartphones in school. If someone needs to get a hold of the kid, the old fashioned way of just calling the school still works just fine.

Medical devices, e.g. (some) insulin pumps like the Tandem Mobi, are managed via smartphone apps only. It's an unfortunate fact of life that life supporting technology can increasingly only be interfaced via smartphones. From my perspective, that's an unfortunate but ultimately good reason for some kids to have smartphones.

my kid's phone is used for managing and monitoring t1d, and they will always have their smart phone at hand i don't care what law people think they are putting in place

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#25

Post by ethbr1 » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:35 PM UTC

larvaetron wrote: post #15

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.

Parents.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#26

Post by WheatMillington » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:36 PM UTC

Our central government banned all phones in schools here in New Zealand at the start of this school year. It's early days yet, but so far so good.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#27

Post by strawhatdev » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:36 PM UTC

beanjuiceII wrote: post #24

strawhatdev wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medical devices, e.g. (some) insulin pumps like the Tandem Mobi, are managed via smartphone apps only. It's an unfortunate fact of life that life supporting technology can increasingly only be interfaced via smartphones. From my perspective, that's an unfortunate but ultimately good reason for some kids to have smartphones.

my kid's phone is used for managing and monitoring t1d, and they will always have their smart phone at hand i don't care what law people think they are putting in place

Same. The ADA act is our friend.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#28

Post by slothtrop » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:36 PM UTC

larvaetron wrote: post #15

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.

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.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#29

Post by pavel_lishin » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:37 PM UTC

ethbr1 wrote: post #25

larvaetron wrote: post #15

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.

Parents.

And the PTA + Administrators not willing to back teachers when they needed to be backed.

Re: New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

#30

Post by WheatMillington » Thu, May 30, 2024, 8:37 PM UTC

sam_bristow wrote: post #17

Titan2189 wrote: post #7

It's been implemented recently in New Zealand and has been pretty successful. https://www.education.govt.nz/school/digital-technology/cell...

I think it's a bit early to call it a success. The rules came in to effect less than a month ago. That's ~18 school days.

That's not exactly accurate. Schools were heavily encouraged to apply the policy from the start of the school year, and most of them did so. The policy was an official requirement from the start of this school term, at which point it had already been school policy at the vast majority of schools.