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Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

theguardian.com

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Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#191

Post by carlosjobim »

greatwave1 wrote: post #148
carlosjobim wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your kids will be excluded from a lot of conversations and events. Raising your children is the most important thing anybody does in their life. It's not something you do alone, but there is a hierarchy on who should have the most say in raising your children. The hierarchy is something like this: 1. The parents 2. Close family 3. Other parents in the community (if you have such community) 4. Close friends of the p…

Where does the child fall on this hierarchy... do they get any input in what technology they derive value/enjoyment from, or is that entirely dictated by adults in their community who grew up 20+ years ago?

Swap the word "raise" to "influence" if you prefer. A person cannot really influence themselves.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#192

Post by theshrike79 »

erfgh wrote: post #92
theshrike79 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like prohibition, the forbidden fruit. Denial will only increase the want. It's better to teach moderation early than it is to try to curb the want for 7+ years. My kid has had an iPad from age 1 or so, with kiosk mode enabled and a baby game that made funny noises when they slapped the screen. They got a phone at age 7, just before starting first grade. No Youtube, no TikTok and screen time enforced per categor…

I don't want to be that guy but this sounds horrible. You shouldn't treat reading as a chore or as something you have to do in order to watch TV. I think it's better if you let them watch TV for 1-2 hours per day and that's it. Let them read if they want to, don't force them like that.

Of course if you have a kid that enjoys reading, go ahead and let them read for 12 hours a day. That's what I did.

But if the options are no reading and 15-30 minutes of reading every day, I'll pick the latter even if I need a screen time shaped carrot to achieve it.

Just being able to read a full book without having a subway surfers video bouncing next to it is a superpower for under 15 year olds today.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#193

Post by dan_quixote »

nordsieck wrote: post #90
rainclouds wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning red is accurate /verified. The only place I’ve personally witnessed wide spread mass transit use for youth in school is Japan. Totally normal and feels safe.

> The only place I’ve personally witnessed wide spread mass transit use for youth in school is Japan. Kids have been able to ride the busses around Seattle for free for many years now (and before that, during the summer for free). It's worked out pretty well. Or at least the program as continued, and I've seen a lot of kids using the city busses. Definitely a better system than yellow school busses.

And it's normal to see young kids walk to school unattended in Seattle. I live near an elementary school and see it every day. Totally unusual in much of the rest of the US.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#194

Post by nerdbert »

verve_rat wrote: post #64
bgribble wrote: post #42

My kid just graduated from a NYC high school that had a complete ban on phones in school. The kids checked in their phones at the front desk on the way in and got them back when leaving. It was by no means watertight -- many (most?) kids had a "burner" phone that was dead or broken or whatever that they turned in (because nobody would believe a highschooler who said they didn't have their phone with them lol) and the…

Did 12 year olds take the subway to school 20, 30 years ago? (Genuinely asking, never lived in a place with a subway, but took the bus all the time at that age.)

People I know who grew up in NYC - most of whom were in primary school 30-40 years ago - mostly took the bus or the subway to school, yes, unless it was close enough to walk.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#196

Post by ryandrake »

nsxwolf wrote: post #187

A family friend is a teacher and she talks about how the kids just play with their phones the whole time. They don't pay attention and she's not allowed to do anything about it. I don't understand how we got to the point where teachers have zero authority. I don't understand why phones can't be put in lockers. If you really need to use the phone for an emergency, you could get a pass. And in the past isn't that what…

I don't know how we've managed to so severely nerf teachers' authority to conduct their class and deal with troublemakers. I've got a daughter now, and the classroom is like Lord Of The Flies now vs. how it was when I was her age in the '80s. My kid reports that one or two kids act out basically all day (maybe trauma from growing up in a broken home?) and the rest of the class barely gets through classwork. So they all get tons of homework to make up for basically chaos during school hours.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#197

Post by greatwave1 »

carlosjobim wrote: post #191
greatwave1 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does the child fall on this hierarchy... do they get any input in what technology they derive value/enjoyment from, or is that entirely dictated by adults in their community who grew up 20+ years ago?

Swap the word "raise" to "influence" if you prefer. A person cannot really influence themselves.

Yes they can, people can (and should) have some influence over their own life.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#198

Post by edgyquant »

falcolas wrote: post #176
gjadi wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legislation doesn't exist in a vacuum. I imagine there are more smartphones in classroom today that the number of GameBoy ever sold.

FWIW, there were more gameboys sold than there are people under 18. 73M children, 118M gameboys.

There are more than 73M children in the world.

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#199

Post by edgyquant »

falcolas wrote: post #177
xwdv wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you serious… as a kid pulling out a Gameboy in the middle of class and just sitting there playing a game would feel like a death sentence. The equivalent of walking into a bank with an assault rifle firing wildly in the air.

And yet children playing games on their phones and aren't the equivalent of your wildly inappropriate metaphor?

Because phones are treated way differently than gameboys were

Re: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

#200

Post by sidewndr46 »

derefr wrote: post #183
sidewndr46 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember being on a train in the Bavarian countryside and was puzzled when at one stop it was suddenly filled with 10-13 year olds. Then I realized the time made about sense for school to let out. They got off at the next few stops

This happens fairly frequently in Vancouver Canada, although it's not from regular school commuting (we do have special school busses), but rather from daycamps that find public transit to be the best solution vs. renting a private bus; but also — perhaps surprisingly — school field trips, which seem to often find "just get on a city bus" simpler to arrange than getting the public schoolbus system(?) to get drivers t…

Interesting, where I grew up school children could not use public transport (while at school at least). We had our own bus system (which was superior to the public transport) and sometimes used private for-hire buses.
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