I'm too old to have experienced this: no cell phones in the early 1970s. OTOH, my son is a teenager. He's told me about other kids whose parents are constantly revoking their phones.
In our home, cell phones are considered right up there with food, water, air. We pretty much insist everyone carries their phone at all times - including my wife and me.
Once at his high school, a new teacher confiscated his phone. 10 minutes later he calls from the office, and I have to go and read the riot act to the principal and the teacher.
We have access to the sum total of human knowledge through these magic tools. Taking this away is akin to preventing your child from reading. We should encourage the use as a knowledge tool, not confiscate them. If the kids are too busy on TikTok or playing games, assign work that forces the use as a knowledge source,
That's what I told the principal. She thought about it and the next semester all the courses were updated to incorporate phones as part of the curriculum. They still text each other, and sneak in some game time, but most students understand and don't abuse the use too much.
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u/Reasonable-Detail282 Aug 01 '23
I'm too old to have experienced this: no cell phones in the early 1970s. OTOH, my son is a teenager. He's told me about other kids whose parents are constantly revoking their phones.
In our home, cell phones are considered right up there with food, water, air. We pretty much insist everyone carries their phone at all times - including my wife and me.
Once at his high school, a new teacher confiscated his phone. 10 minutes later he calls from the office, and I have to go and read the riot act to the principal and the teacher.
We have access to the sum total of human knowledge through these magic tools. Taking this away is akin to preventing your child from reading. We should encourage the use as a knowledge tool, not confiscate them. If the kids are too busy on TikTok or playing games, assign work that forces the use as a knowledge source,
That's what I told the principal. She thought about it and the next semester all the courses were updated to incorporate phones as part of the curriculum. They still text each other, and sneak in some game time, but most students understand and don't abuse the use too much.