81–90 of 192 posts
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’
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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
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.
What was the impetus for schools to become "smartphone-friendly"? In the 00s, phones/smartphones in class weren't a thing.
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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 Maybe you’re playing gotcha at a poor millenial’s out of date examples but the point stands.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.
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what useful thing does a smartphone do during school hours?
Looking stuff up during lunch or study hall. School hours != in class but it often means doing assignments.
Most study hall / libraries have a number of computer terminals.
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.
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 teachers can't police it or try to).
The main issue is underpaid, overworked, and more often than not, teachers who aren't properly qualified to teach (not for lack of an official paper saying they can), who can't reach troubled/lacking students, and quite frankly they don't care to or even attempt to.
Earlier today someone posted this article [1], I'd love to know out of those 72% who participated on the survey, how many are teachers that students can say: "Mrs. X is one of the best teachers I've ever had. She always makes the lessons interesting and goes out of her way to help us understand the material.", "Mr. X really cares about his students. He takes the time to get to know us and makes learning fun."
I'm sure a lot of you from the newer generations have experienced that moment where you turned to the internet to learn something from Youtube because the teacher in class couldn't be bothered to, or simply was inept at explaining it in a way that YOU could understand, but some random Indian guy on Youtube can. Not to say that the older generations didn't have similar experiences.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/12/72-percen...
PS: This isn't me saying that we should or shouldn't ban phone, (phones have been banned from classrooms since the start anyway), this is me saying that we have much bigger problems that are overshadowed by scapegoats which no one bothers to bring up.
Why is no one talking about the fact that so many school's infrastructure is so bad that it can potentially even be a risk to your child's health, physical and mental, I.E: extremely hot or cold classrooms, poor ventilation, the bathrooms being unsanitary, etc...
Why are kids 180cm+ sitting down on wooden chairs meant for kids with 40cm less?
Why are kids forced to carry 10kg+ worth of books on their back every morning, (which cost a fortune btw).
Why does no one talk about the food that's served to kids being terrible, not just unhealthy, but just horrible because they will hire the cheapest contract and purchase the cheapest ingredients, and often times quite unsanitary looking (if those kitchen's I grew up seeing were restaurants, I wouldn't eat there.)
What about staff who won't give a flying * about your 14 year old child smoking behind the school's building, or getting bullied right there in-front of everyone and the excuse is that they aren't paid well enough to care.
You can keep listing problems that honestly rank higher and contribute to your child's poor education more.
Sorry for the rant.
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I can see it going either way. A century ago in the US, a lot of support for Prohibition came from the impact of liquor, yet Prohibition itself also banned beer. I can very easily believe that the backlash against dark patterns, against deliberately addictive apps (games and social media), against advertising getting squeezed into what would otherwise be normal conversations, against the surveillance that currently m…
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…
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 extremely harmful to mental health, especially to girls. This is not the same as outlawing alcohol to grown adults.
Sounds like you agree with me that much of the current stuff is bad. I'm saying that some of the rest is both harmless and helpful.
I believe that, in retrospect, these schoolchildren will greatly appreciate this decision.
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.
As much as I agree, teachers aren't really paid well, don't regularly get any training to improve their teaching, and don't have time at the end of the day to make efforts to improve the next day. Even the best teachers won't be engaging to some of their students.
Moreover, this system we have is at the detriment of boys' education. Many of those who misbehave or underperform because they don't want to sit at a desk all day are loaded up with ADHD drugs because it's a system that doesn't work for them. I don't have a link but government stats show clear underperformance among boys.