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Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

theguardian.com

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Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#101

Post by jasonjei »

ben_w wrote: post #88
jasonjei wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have kids? I have a 4-year old girl. And while parenting is so much harder without iPad and iPhone, my daughter is genuinely more interested in the world and imagination play than looking at screens. At age 2, was curious about the other kids with iPads, but now she shows no interest in screens. And we’re doing fine with static or minimally electronic toys. She has a whole adolescent/adult life ahead of her of…

Good for you, and good for her. I wish I had kids, but sadly not yet. Myself, I grew up with a Commodore 64, whose user manual didn't only teach me to code, but was even part of me learning to read. But everyone is different, what worked fine for me isn't necessarily even a good idea for others. > This is about a developing child’s mind and the cautionary principle of knowing with the evidence we have now that it is…

I had a computer growing up. It wasn’t always connected to the Internet. I had dial up occasionally. But I cannot imagine my child growing up with social media is a good thing. Facebook, MySpace, Instagram, TikTok didn’t exist when I was a kid.

And while the genie is out of the bottle, I want to minimize the exposure of social media. The smartphone experience is shrouded in social media. I want to do everything in my power to put her in an environment with other parents who have agreed to modify their environment. We’re looking at San Francisco Waldorf School. They even have a “computer lab” with designated screen time in the later grades.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#102

Post by PUSH_AX »

jasonjei wrote: post #93

I think many of the comments in opposition to this are coming from people that do not have children. Many of those in support do. I speak as a parent of a child, and I think “parent brain” will affect your thoughts on this. Having said that, I grew up on dial up and very low tech HTML. Not social media which is an entirely different beast. There is a book called The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Child…

I’m a parent. My kids are not getting smart phones for as long as I can reasonably demand it. I foresee this going into secondary school age.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#103

Post by prmoustache »

josefresco wrote: post #74
prmoustache wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of parent will call or message their kids during school hours? All the ressources mentionned can probably be accessed through other means, usually the school library which has computer terminals.

> What kind of parent will call or message their kids during school hours? Both my teens text me throughout the school day if they need something. It's not every day, but it's several times a week. It's incredibly useful. I'd fight this vigorously if they tried this in my school district.

useful != essential

Any usefulness needs to be balanced with the possible detrimentals consequences.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#104

Post by ericd »

technothrasher wrote: post #89
rubymamis wrote: post #3

I believe that, in retrospect, these schoolchildren will greatly appreciate this decision.

As reported by my son who is in a 'phone free' high school here in the US, the policy is entirely useless. They make them put their phones in the 'phone hotel' at the beginning of the day, and they can retrieve them at the end. But many kids just put an old decoy phone in the hotel and keep their actual phone with them. Even if they don't do this, they're required to use laptops for class, and even with the school at…

Ironically, I think that circumventing lockdowns will teach them far more about technology than the policy to use them for class in the first place.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#105

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #87
cedws wrote: post #10

My schooling experience (in London, less than 10 years ago) was a waste of time. If they want students to be engaged, make the material engaging.

I didn't need a phone to be distracted in class, or better yet, to cut class. Sure, smartphones can be very distracting, more so than dumbphones, but there have been rules in place for phones in a classroom since the 2000s and kids would still sneak them in, this won't change kids sneaking in anything, nor does it change the fact that you weren't supposed to be on the phone in class in the first place (or that teache…

I think you are onto something. Cell phones appear to be just part of the issue. In the US ( I have no insight about UK ), it seems already existing rules are not always enforced.

It is easy to paint with broad strokes. For example, in Chicagoland, teachers can be paid fairly well for the amount of work they do ( though based on some of the stories, I would not want to go through that myself; surely, some just check out ).

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#106

Post by [deleted] »

Angostura wrote: post #46

Listening to something on the BBC the other day that I found thought provoking. The speaker suggested that the question’at what age do you give your child access to the internet’ could better be framed ‘at what age do you want to give internet companies access to your child’

[deleted]

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#107

Post by ilikecakeandpie »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #83
cedws wrote: post #10

My schooling experience (in London, less than 10 years ago) was a waste of time. If they want students to be engaged, make the material engaging.

Why does all material have to be engaging? Can it all be as engaging to every student as what a smartphone offers? We already expect a lot of work from teachers, why do they also have to compete with the latest billion dollar game?

I agree. Kids gotta learn how to handle boredom and not be disruptive with their own thoughts. Doodle if you need to

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#108

Post by Symbiote »

josefresco wrote: post #74
prmoustache wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of parent will call or message their kids during school hours? All the ressources mentionned can probably be accessed through other means, usually the school library which has computer terminals.

> What kind of parent will call or message their kids during school hours? Both my teens text me throughout the school day if they need something. It's not every day, but it's several times a week. It's incredibly useful. I'd fight this vigorously if they tried this in my school district.

Maybe you'd all learn to be a bit more organised.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#109

Post by prmoustache »

Retric wrote: post #78
giantg2 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pretty much all have chromebooks or laptops these days that can perform the same actions if it's school related. Also, study hall is an elective class. You still need to behave in study hall. The purpose is to study. Lunch could be an exception, but not really. There should be enough time to eat and socialize just a little. The lunch periods are not excessively long.

Try to juggle a Chromebook, textbook, and a worksheet on a one of those single seat desks and see if you start reaching for a phone. Chromebook’s still aren’t nearly as integrated into schools as you might expect.

Then maybe the good answer is to fix the facilities.

Re: Group of 17 London secondary schools join up to go smartphone-free

#110

Post by prmoustache »

logtempo wrote: post #26
rubymamis wrote: post #3

I believe that, in retrospect, these schoolchildren will greatly appreciate this decision.

To me, the necessity to have a banning "law" is a sign of failure. We should teach children the why and how, incentive them to put, by themselves, their phone in a lockbox and eventually consider them as growing adult and not irresponsible childs.

Most adults wouldn't wear seatbelt nor would they respect the gazillions of traffic laws that make the road safer for the drivers and the pedestrian if it wasn't mandatory.

Same for fire hazard in buildings or strict hygiene rules in hospital to avoid infections.

And thousands of laws that make people behave in general. Like prohibiting murder.

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