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Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

euronews.com

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Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#31

Post by washadjeffmad »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #17

Problem: bullying. Cheap solution that won't work, but they need to do something: take children's phones away.

You're right in that it's both a modern challenge and one 30 years in need of addressing.

The first girl I "dated" I met in an AOL chat in the 90s where I did what was later called negging. Five years later, my friends were on AIM and torturing each other and everyone they could get the handles of.

A coworker recently told me her tween son had done the same to a classmate via Discord and whatever other socials kids use today, and unlike, or because of, how we grew up, his teachers were aware of it and called his parents. He spent the summer without Internet doing volunteer work until everyone was satisfied, and he's improved because of it.

I don't believe in ubiquitous surveillance, but with the connectivity available today, parents need more options to parent. I think there need to be more options for phones without cameras, more accessible management, and ways to limit that so that there's local privacy for developing people to explore their personhood. Taking phones away isn't a bad way to start until we have that option.

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#32

Post by Iulioh »

zamadatix wrote: post #22
altinagr wrote: post #16

Mobile phones are already banned from Greek schools since 2006. The government issued a new set of cost-cutting changes for this academic year. The most fundamental change is that they merge classes together (at least 25 students) to save money. The teachers are unable to work with such big classes.

"Merging" as in ~25 is the new class size after merge or two classes of ~25 will merge to a new class size of ~50? I never really considered it before but on looking it up it seems some places have average class sizes Even 30 I think worked out towards the later years but, looking back, I have no idea how grade school classes of 25+ held together. 50 would have to be just nuts for all but maybe the final year or two.

I don't think 50 student classes are possible because they wouldn't fit in the already present rooms

Probably will set a minimum of 25 when possible with 30ish as a maximum

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#34

Post by ceejayoz »

Lammy wrote: post #33
ceejayoz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That gets you serious Federal felonies in the US. Prisons can’t even jam cell phones.

> Greece

I expect most nations similarly forbid jamming public critical infrastructure.

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#35

Post by swayvil »

Lammy wrote: post #33
ceejayoz wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That gets you serious Federal felonies in the US. Prisons can’t even jam cell phones.

> Greece

Throw him to the ground most roughly! Persecute, villify and downvote the cheeky scoundrel!

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#36

Post by unpopularopp »

Hungary did the same this month but interesting how it plays out here. Because the current meta of the opposition is "everything Orbán does is bad" so this policy also became an issue like that and every non-Fidesz aligned party, teachers trade union etc is opposing it.

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#38

Post by Aerroon »

Stupid new rules. And I think I'm already being charitable. Of course phones should be banned during class, but not in-between classes.

>Under the new rules, pupils who don't comply will be excluded from school for one day.

The "punishment" is even stupider than the new rules themselves. Kids already do not want to be in school and you're rewarding them with that for breaking a rule.

>Scientific data on how the use of mobile phones during the school day affects the learning process itself, are overwhelming.

If we have such great scientific data on the process of learning then why isn't this being used to improve educational outcomes in general? Greece isn't exactly topping the charts with their performance, nor were the previous high ranking results taking these kinds of steps of banning phones outright. Or days in another way: I very much doubt that we have actual strong evidence on this that isn't muddied by all kinds of other factors.

Considering that teachers can't even spot students that are chatting or cheating during exams, I think this ban is also going to be ineffective.

I swear, most adults have completely forgotten what it was like to be a teenager in school.

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#39

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

hunter2_ wrote: post #30
morkalork wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I swear the LG G6 I had did this. When I visit family, it's a long drive through some pretty spotty areas and the phone would be hot to the touch and the battery drained faster than usual. As if it's just constantly screaming out into the RF void.

If the closest tower is on the fringe of connectivity, and you've got an app that's acknowledging push notifications constantly or similar, then wouldn't it make sense that it has to scream constantly? Keep in mind that not every push on a data level results in something displaying in your notification tray; these are quite distinct despite the phrase "push notification" commonly being used for the combination of a p…

Wireless radios boost their gain settings when they have weak or no signal. The firmware devs should be mindful of conserving power in this scenario. Some don't bother.

Re: Greece announces new rules banning mobile phones in schools from September

#40

Post by redbell »

One, big, problem of our [supposedly] modern life is that we create problems from no where than struggle to find solutions for them.

Regardless of the country, bringing smart phones to schools by students is a critical problem because it has a lot of negative consequences with short attention span caused by short-form videos [1] being one of them. Instead, we can buy our kids classic, dump phone just for calling purposes or, as another commenter already mention, a smartwatch that supports SIM card so your kid can make (and receive) calls if needed.

One of the significant challenges of our so-called modern life is that we often create problems out of thin air, only to struggle with finding solutions for them.

A prime example, no matter the country, is the issue of students bringing smart phones to schools. This has become a serious concern due to the numerous negative consequences it brings. Among the most troubling is the short attention span fostered by the constant barrage of short-form videos [1]. Instead of allowing this, a more thoughtful approach would be to provide our children with classic, dumb phones solely for calling purposes. Alternatively, as another commenter suggested, a smartwatch with SIM card capabilities could be a practical solution, enabling kids to make and receive calls when necessary.

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1. https://jolt.richmond.edu/2024/03/06/tiktok-brain-can-we-sav...

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