Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools • Hacker News Board

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#21

Post by constantcrying » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:42 AM UTC

Liquix wrote: post #18

constantcrying wrote: post #10

[flagged]

partially to guarantee a base level of competence and knowledge, partly to condition a society of good workers. the modern public school system was designed during the height of the industrial revolution to pump out laborers. by adulthood it seems natural to show up in the morning, complete tasks assigned by authority figures, receive discipline or praise, then go home for dinner.

Given that schools totally fail at these, can't we consider making children do something else. Something which does not involve sitting in classrooms for 8 hours a day and learning nothing?

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#22

Post by roenxi » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:42 AM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #6

PeterStuer wrote: post #3

If the goal of school is to develop children into young adults with good reasoning and analytical skills, a basic wholesome world and social model and some practical skills and basic physique, smartphones seem to contribute little and distract a lot from those aims.

Is that the aim of schools? It certainly did not appear to me that way, here in Germany. There was a lot of time spend sitting in a room and "learning", yet I basically learned nothing. For the other things you described I do not think they were ever considered. All around school was a giant waste of time.

You have put your finger on something - the actual purpose of school is to socialise children (it isn't very efficient as a teaching system - tutoring is better and what the people who really care about educational attainment use). But a side effect is teaching them a lot of useful things.

And telling if time spent learning is wasted is actually quite hard - if you know something and everyone else knows something it often fades into the background and nobody notices. But it still makes a difference.

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#23

Post by constantcrying » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:44 AM UTC

brainzap wrote: post #20

PeterStuer wrote: post #3

If the goal of school is to develop children into young adults with good reasoning and analytical skills, a basic wholesome world and social model and some practical skills and basic physique, smartphones seem to contribute little and distract a lot from those aims.

the goal of school and what it is used for are different thing. School is childcare

[flagged]

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#24

Post by markvdb » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:44 AM UTC

brainzap wrote: post #20

PeterStuer wrote: post #3

If the goal of school is to develop children into young adults with good reasoning and analytical skills, a basic wholesome world and social model and some practical skills and basic physique, smartphones seem to contribute little and distract a lot from those aims.

the goal of school and what it is used for are different thing. School is childcare

This is about Finland. They have a rather well-reputed school system that delivers in both areas.

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#25

Post by thomassmith65 » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:47 AM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #10

[flagged]

Apparently the author's grade school was on the moon?

At grade school, the rest of us learned: to read and write, a little arithmetic, some biology, some physics, some history, maybe a second language, and much more.

What a blessing it would be, as an adult, to have free access to a tutor for such a variety of courses.

The point of school is to grow up not to be an ignoramus.

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#26

Post by fmbb » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:47 AM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #23

brainzap wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the goal of school and what it is used for are different thing. School is childcare

[flagged]

Have you met a 16-year old?

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#27

Post by lupusreal » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:49 AM UTC

fmbb wrote: post #26

constantcrying wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Have you met a 16-year old?

Their fingers are too big to fit in electrical sockets, they should be fine.

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#28

Post by pandemic_region » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:50 AM UTC

constantcrying wrote: post #17

jajko wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And thats no reason to let kids do empty highly addictive activity unhinged instead of getting prepared for later life. Emotional reactions != smart ones.

[flagged]

Are you implying we should school them the Spartan way rather then? Would that prepare them for life in a better way? Or, what do you think would be valuable then to do (purposely not saying learn) during those twelve years?

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#29

Post by geremiiah » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:50 AM UTC

Is it possible to fight Internet addiction without banning stuff? While it helps to ban smartphones during school, it won't stop these kids from logging on for 5 to 7 hrs after school. We need to find ways to make people (not just kids) more resilient to Internet addiction without resorting to widespread bans, which are both hard to implement, unlikely to keep people away long term and dangerous for other reasons.

Re: Finland Bans Smartphones in Schools

#30

Post by Kaethar » Wed, Apr 30, 2025, 10:52 AM UTC

I wonder if there's any alternatives to this that teach actual discipline when it comes to phones. Methods that actually attack the reason kids are using phones in school (boredom, social anxiety, uninterested in school etc.).