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Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

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Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#41

Post by cyberax »

oblio wrote: post #7
basisword wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this effective at all? Every kid will continue to use them surreptitiously, as they always have.

This type of repetitive comment[1] is a bit like the bike lanes discussion: 1.City introduces bike lanes on street. 2. Residents complain about parking spaces going away, businesses complain about future bankruptcies due to fewer customers, general uproar is huge. 3. Residents discover bike lanes are quiet, and they also reduce ambient noise levels due to reduced car traffic, air is also cleaner, roads and intersecti…

> 3. Residents discover bike lanes are quiet, and they also reduce ambient noise levels due to reduced car traffic, air is also cleaner, roads and intersections are safer.

Except that 3 doesn't actually happen... Bike lanes stay empty and kill businesses.

In Seattle and Portland the businesses within 1 block of new bike lanes declined faster after 2019.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#42

Post by armchairhacker »

quacked wrote: post #28

This doesn't go far enough, in my opinion. I think all screens should be banned from schools. No TV, no phones, no projectors, no slides. No shortcuts for anybody, no distractions. Everything handwritten. I know this sounds like I'm sarcastically criticizing phone bans but I'm serious. (Edit: obviously will need some accommodations for disabled students, and computer labs will have to exist for technical literacy cla…

Actually, I benefited from a school-issued Chromebook. I mostly used it for note-taking (I'm bad at handwriting) and homework. Even though it allowed some simple browser games, I suspect it was less distracting, and the browser games could've been banned if the school used a whitelist to make it even less so. Even with paper students can be distracted by doodling and daydreaming.

But I wouldn't oppose banning those as long as the schools provided an AlphaSmart (because again, I'm really bad at handwriting). I think e-readers would be best but those are expensive.

I think banning tools for teachers, like projectors, is unnecessary. I suspect I learned easier from projected computer screens vs. staring at a whiteboard, but anything projected on the screen (e.g. powerpoint presentations) could be passed to students on paper, except movies but those may rarely be necessary.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#43

Post by entrepy123 »

Plenty of Palo Alto parents seem to want basically what Czechia appears to be doing:

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/palo-alto-schools/2026/07/10/...

https://www.fournorms.com/campaigns/petition-for-intentional...

https://www.schoolsbeyondscreens.com/reform-proposals

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#44

Post by vitro »

whateveracct wrote: post #38
vitro wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if kids refuse to put their phones away during classes, teachers have no right to take them since they are the kids' personal property. And yes, it is in the school rules that you cannot use your phone during class. My SO teaches English and struggles with it permanently. Kids are on their phones and not paying attention to the lecture. And no support from the headmaster. Other teachers claim they do not have the…

> But if kids refuse to put their phones away during classes, teachers have no right to take them since they are the kids' personal property. And yes, it is in the school rules that you cannot use your phone during class. Is this true? When I was in high school, teachers could take away your phones.

Well yes. A teacher can have a box for phones, but kids need to put the phone there themselves. Of course, depends on the relation teacher has with their kids, but that's how you should do it by law.

And even then, if the teacher trips the box, it is on them to reimburse owners for broken phones.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#45

Post by hamper653 »

ronsor wrote: post #40
quacked wrote: post #28

This doesn't go far enough, in my opinion. I think all screens should be banned from schools. No TV, no phones, no projectors, no slides. No shortcuts for anybody, no distractions. Everything handwritten. I know this sounds like I'm sarcastically criticizing phone bans but I'm serious. (Edit: obviously will need some accommodations for disabled students, and computer labs will have to exist for technical literacy cla…

Whether those things are distractions depends on what they're used for. I'm fairly certain schools had projectors a few decades ago, and nothing bad came of it. You don't really need to ban phones from schools; just ban them in class. I don't know why this stuff is treated as such a big deal. Students should pay attention in class, which means not using anything (not devices, paper, books, etc.) except as needed for…

Phones should be banned from children’s lives altogether. They have no benefit for them, only harm.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#46

Post by flatline »

asveikau wrote: post #10

I don't understand the legislative pushes for some of these things. Schools can already say "no phones during instructional hours". Many of them do. I guess legislating it can mandate the policy across a school district, state, country etc., so perhaps that makes sense. But others call for outright bans for kids, all the time. Parents can also restrict usage or set rules for appropriate use. Many do.

I don't understand how people fail to understand how public policy works. You can tell people to do something and they may or may not ignore you depending on how you say it, and what incentives and penalties you provide.

Being a parent or a teacher puts you in a position of fighting multi-billion dollar corporate interests that are trying to capture your kids' attention. It's also fighting their very successful advertising campaigns that makes kids, just like adults, feel FOMO for not having the latest gadgets, or access to the same social media outlets as their peers.

Any public policy trying to counter this needs some weight behind it, and a strong consensus as to what we value as normative behavior in society.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#47

Post by npunt »

Aerroon wrote: post #22

Do we have any actual evidence that this significantly improves things? For example, can we expect Czech PISA scores to go up by 50 points from this change? Or is this one of those "it feels like it should be good, therefore it's good"? Or maybe "we asked a bunch of people whether they think it's good and they said yes"? You've got to remember that measures like this are limiting people's freedoms, so they need to pr…

The ubiquitous availability of smartphones also limits kids freedom. It creates a very particular style of interaction with peers where quitting means you are left out. That means kids are subject to apps that prey on insecurities, have extremely addictive properties, force feed constant doomerism messaging on them, etc just to stay connected. Another way to look at it is it’s a tax on the joy and freedom of being a kid.

This is a freedom-from / freedom-to distinction. Once you look at kids as a social group rather than as a single individual I think you can come to very different conclusions about what is on balance healthier.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#48

Post by ronsor »

hamper653 wrote: post #45
ronsor wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether those things are distractions depends on what they're used for. I'm fairly certain schools had projectors a few decades ago, and nothing bad came of it. You don't really need to ban phones from schools; just ban them in class. I don't know why this stuff is treated as such a big deal. Students should pay attention in class, which means not using anything (not devices, paper, books, etc.) except as needed for…

Phones should be banned from children’s lives altogether. They have no benefit for them, only harm.

Yes, yes, we've heard that about books, radio, film, television, and game consoles. I'll put your complaint in the queue.

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#49

Post by jmcgough »

cyberax wrote: post #41
oblio wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This type of repetitive comment[1] is a bit like the bike lanes discussion: 1.City introduces bike lanes on street. 2. Residents complain about parking spaces going away, businesses complain about future bankruptcies due to fewer customers, general uproar is huge. 3. Residents discover bike lanes are quiet, and they also reduce ambient noise levels due to reduced car traffic, air is also cleaner, roads and intersecti…

> 3. Residents discover bike lanes are quiet, and they also reduce ambient noise levels due to reduced car traffic, air is also cleaner, roads and intersections are safer. Except that 3 doesn't actually happen... Bike lanes stay empty and kill businesses. In Seattle and Portland the businesses within 1 block of new bike lanes declined faster after 2019.

Source? There are so many explanations for that beyond just "bike lanes kill businesses".

Re: Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027

#50

Post by amelius »

basisword wrote: post #8
happypappy123 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

The only friction here is 'you're not allowed to do that' - which doesn't typically work on teenagers. We had the same rules for dumbbphones and iPod's 20 years ago and it didn't work then.

> which doesn't typically work on teenagers

Depends. You have "good kids" and "bad kids".

If this law helps the good kids, then that's at least a win.

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