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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

#71

Post by prmoustache »

zarzavat wrote: post #49

Confiscating phones from children for an entire week is an unhinged idea. Confiscating for the rest of the school day I can understand, but not giving them the phone back when they go home is dangerous. At some point a child will get abducted on their way home from school, or be unable to contact emergency services, because the school confiscated their phone. They seem to want parents to buy dumb phones instead for t…

The phone doesn't do anything against abduction. It doesn't make the public transports work better either.

Also, there is a thing about developing social skills to be able to do small things like asking for directions/help.

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

#72

Post by giantg2 »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #48
trgn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what useful thing does a smartphone do during school hours?

Dumb phone things, apps for blood sugar monitoring, checking public transport delays,.... There are enough stories about children dying because schools locked away medication. I have very little trust that schools will apply any common sense.

All the things you mentioned were normally handled without phones a generation ago. They should be able to get medical exceptions for medical devices.

Yeah, schools have a history of issues. However, this policy isn't really new. It was in place when I went to school and there were no issues.

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

#73

Post by wisemang »

willsmith72 wrote: post #59
maxehmookau wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely think there's a difference between young people having access to the internet, and young people having access to social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) Social media is designed to be addictive. Much of the internet is not. I'm increasingly in favor of banning Facebook and Instagram to under 18s.

under 18s arent on facebook, and barely on instagram. that might work for 25-40 year olds though

Replace with TikTok or Snapchat or whatever they are using. Because they are definitely using social media. Maybe you’re playing gotcha at a poor millenial’s out of date examples but the point stands.

Source: parent of high schooler.

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

#74

Post by josefresco »

prmoustache wrote: post #61
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #41

This is plainly idiotic. Smartphones are great for having useful apps for studying such as dictionaries and translators, they provide access to Wikipedia and means to communicate with other kids. They also make parents feel less stressful knowing they can always call or message their kids. Whoever came up with this idea is a retrograde.

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.

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

#75

Post by PUSH_AX »

zarzavat wrote: post #49

Confiscating phones from children for an entire week is an unhinged idea. Confiscating for the rest of the school day I can understand, but not giving them the phone back when they go home is dangerous. At some point a child will get abducted on their way home from school, or be unable to contact emergency services, because the school confiscated their phone. They seem to want parents to buy dumb phones instead for t…

How on earth did any child survive pre 2000..

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

#76

Post by willsmith72 »

zarzavat wrote: post #49

Confiscating phones from children for an entire week is an unhinged idea. Confiscating for the rest of the school day I can understand, but not giving them the phone back when they go home is dangerous. At some point a child will get abducted on their way home from school, or be unable to contact emergency services, because the school confiscated their phone. They seem to want parents to buy dumb phones instead for t…

> Can you imagine trying to text “I’m being followed by someone on XYZ road” on a Nokia-style keyboard? Do dumb phones support sending GPS coordinates to emergency services like smartphones do?

what do you think the world looked like 15 years ago? the 1-week is a punitive punishment. you know you can't have this. you deliberately chose to use it. if you get it back at the end of the day, so what? you've lost nothing. you wouldn't have been able to use it during school anyway.

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

#77

Post by bcrosby95 »

wafflemaker wrote: post #8

I know it would complicate things a lot, but are we sure it's smartphones and not social media / "not educational" websites being the issue? If I had a phone with calendar and a to do list, when at school, I might have fared better.

I think you underestimate how attractive socializing with your friends is. My niece's school uses chromebooks and they spend a lot of time using google chat with eachother during class.

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

#78

Post by Retric »

giantg2 wrote: post #60
Retric wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking stuff up during lunch or study hall. School hours != in class but it often means doing assignments.

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.

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

#79

Post by prmoustache »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #69
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.

it's incredibly common, like a quick text from the child "hey don't pick me up today I'm going to Greg's house" or a parent saying "do you have football practice today"

I am just waiting for my daughter to come back home to tell her whatever I need to (or leave a note on the kitchen counter) and she does the same. Also once home, she has access to me through XMPP even if I am not there.

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

#80

Post by maxehmookau »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #68
maxehmookau wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely think there's a difference between young people having access to the internet, and young people having access to social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) Social media is designed to be addictive. Much of the internet is not. I'm increasingly in favor of banning Facebook and Instagram to under 18s.

There just isn’t much of the internet left outside of social media as far as I can tell

That's just not true though, however much it may seem like it.
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