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New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

theguardian.com

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

#51

Post by mike_d »

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.

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.

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

#52

Post by mikeyouse »

SavageBeast wrote: post #10
dangus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m confused about where this assumption that there is or will be a bill that mandates the purchase of a Google Watch is coming from. This whole essay you wrote is taking that conclusion jump and rolling straight into the worst case scenario.

The bill wont strictly "mandate buying a Google Kids Watch" but it will stipulate a ban on smart phones (iPhones being the dominant device) in schools. The Google Kiddie Crack watch is $200, the Apple Watch can't compete at that price point. Dumb Phones (flip phone) wont offer location tracking the parents can monitor. What option is a parent to choose I wonder? This product seems suspiciously designed for a very spe…

> The Google Kiddie Crack watch is $200, the Apple Watch can't compete at that price point.

The cheapest Apple Watch is only $250.. they could obviously sell one at a cheaper point via the Education portal if there was sufficient reason to (like a nationwide ban on cell phones).

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

#53

Post by [deleted] »

SavageBeast wrote: post #10
dangus wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m confused about where this assumption that there is or will be a bill that mandates the purchase of a Google Watch is coming from. This whole essay you wrote is taking that conclusion jump and rolling straight into the worst case scenario.

The bill wont strictly "mandate buying a Google Kids Watch" but it will stipulate a ban on smart phones (iPhones being the dominant device) in schools. The Google Kiddie Crack watch is $200, the Apple Watch can't compete at that price point. Dumb Phones (flip phone) wont offer location tracking the parents can monitor. What option is a parent to choose I wonder? This product seems suspiciously designed for a very spe…

[deleted]

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

#54

Post by ethbr1 »

zer00eyz wrote: post #44

They ripped out home economics, Wood, metal and auto shop. They ripped out the computer labs (hey, many of you HAD vocational training and didn't know it). Gym, Art, Music... all persist. Schools in the US have become some sort of retrograde distopian bubble of a time that never existed. Now you're going to remove the one check that kids had vs this system? Cause we haven't seen videos of teachers being awful, stupid…

> we dont want to give kids the option to fact check bull shit on the spot

Reasoning from exceptionalism isn't reasonable.

The majority of kids aren't using their phones to complete extra Khan Academy lessons in their free time...

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

#55

Post by kwhitefoot »

If schools had the resources and personell necessary to engage the students then there would be no need to ban mobiles because the students would be more interested in the work at hand. Banning them will not magically make the lessons more engaging or more relevant.

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

#57

Post by ethbr1 »

itake wrote: post #43
ethbr1 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents.

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.

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.

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

#58

Post by bsder »

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.

> It's an unfortunate fact of life that life supporting technology can increasingly only be interfaced via smartphones.

Things like "insulin pump control" had separate, non-phone devices for a long time. Consumers flocked to the ones on the phone even when they sucked and had 1/10 the features.

I'm no defender of medical companies, but the blame for your complaint falls squarely on the consumers, themselves.

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

#59

Post by kube-system »

mike_d wrote: post #51
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.

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 yo…

> 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.

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

#60

Post by tootie »

ethbr1 wrote: post #45
tootie wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technophobia. Kids use phones to communicate with teachers and that includes during the school day.

It's a valuable lesson to learn that the person in authority gets to set rules, even if they're arbitrary. It doesn't seem unreasonable for a teacher to say "I don't like interacting via email. If you need something from me, tell me."

I honestly think it is unreasonable. I don't think the real-world lesson should be to blindly submit to authority. Obviously you have to be realistic, but kids are already very aware of which teachers are being difficult for no good reason. Most teachers now are requiring assignments be turned in via digital channel because it makes it impossible to question when they were due, when they were turned in or for a paper to be misplaced. It's unequivocally superior to paper assignments. Even for hand-made work, they will take a photo on their phone to upload.

One teacher in particular still requires hand-written papers to be turned in and recently gave my kid a 0 on an assignment because he lost it. She had to go to his class afterschool and find it.

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