New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools

QuantumSpecter@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 297 points –
New York governor to launch bill banning smartphones in schools
theguardian.com
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The research showing the impact of cellphones during class outweighs an individual's opinion. This has nothing to do with fashion and can't be compared to hats or locker decorations.

The research showing the impact of cellphones during class outweighs an individual’s opinion.

More broadly, any kind of in-class interruption can hurt academic performance. This same logic has been applied to dress codes, speech constraints (most famously Bong Hits for Jesus), and behavioral edicts.

But this wack-a-mole strategy of prohibitions isn't championed because it is particularly effective. There's always some new distraction in the classroom you can chase after next. The strategy is championed because its cheap. Banning cell phones has very little budgeted cost as a public policy. By contrast, reducing class sizes and providing more hands-on learning opportunities and hiring/retaining highly educated teachers has an enormous price tag.

Nevermind which strategy has a proven history of increased student performance. We just need to keep locking enormous pools of children in tiny windowless classrooms and throwing increasingly byzantine standardized tests at them, then chasing any student who produces a "distraction" from this mind-numbing educational policy.

It's no different than sleeping through class or just doodling and ignoring the teacher. If the kid can't not have their phone out then they get banished to the back of the class. If they play noise they get sent to the office, just like disruptive kids in every generation.

It’s no different than sleeping through class or just doodling and ignoring the teacher.

And there you have it folks, doodling is the same as these social media apps designed to be addictive that also lead to all kinds of bullying and social anxieties and harassment.

I'm sorry, you think banning smartphones at school is going to stop cyber bullying? Because bullies infamously follow the rules and kids are at school 24/7?

Stop? No. But results so far have shown a decrease.

Not really according to the New York Times. It's mixed at best. And it doesn't make sense either. Bullies are more than capable of breaking the rules. The only thing that actually works here is that victims may not see the messages until after school. That's certainly not going to stop all of the other ways phones are used to coordinate bullying though. So now they get bullied all day still and taunted all night still.

The problem with cyber bullying is that there's no breaks in the bullying anymore. You used to be able to go home and relax before going back into it at school. So until schools actually go after bullies instead of supporting them against their victims this is useless.

You said it was the same as doodling. I responded to that. All that other stuff you added was just fabricated in your own head.

I believe his point was that if students want to find a way to be distracted, they will - with or without cellphones. I know I certainly was able to distract myself with doodling lol

It's not about finding a way to be distracted, it's about having a device that's filled with shit that's meant to be addictive distracting you whether you are seeking it out or not.

Let's give them a suspension, send them to their lead painted home with a pack of smokes, just like every generation.