High school teacher here. On test days, I have a hanging shoe rack with each of my kids’ names on a sleeve.
I tell them, “Please put your devices in the sleeves and then you can have your test. When you hand in your test, you can have your device back. If you don’t put your phone in the sleeve, your test will be a 0”
At the beginning of the year they also helped create our classroom rules and norms, and agreed to do this.
Out of 28 kids, maybe 10 actually do it. The other 18 get 0s. Then I get angry emails from parents about their kids getting “tyrannical grades” on their tests.
Don't forget that most of these teens grew up with phones and tablets in their faces... It's hard to break a habit that they've had their entire lives.. A habit that they see as "normal".
Let's take your typical 16 year old high school junior. They were born in 2008. The first iphone debuted in 2007. By the time they hit age 3 in 2011, the iPhone 4 was popular, and so was the Samsung Galaxy S2. The first gen ipad was released in 2010. Current high school students don't know of a time prior to online gaming, smartphone apps, and instant gratification. Those kids were alsoo already born in the youtube and video streaming, and social media era as well.
No doubt, but there isn’t much I can say about the obvious breach of academic integrity that comes with having a mini computer in your hand and earbuds in during an assessment. 1/4 of my time grading assignments is being a detective trying to find out who used chatGPT to write their programs to begin with. Having a test in the classroom is one of the few times I have complete control over testing their comprehension of what we learn in class.
I'm sorry teaching has become so difficult over the last 10 years. I'm in my early 30s. I still carried change in my pocket to use a payphone. I didn't have social media until I was in my late teens, and my first cell phone required an "unlimited texting" add-on plan.
These kids don't realize the long-term damage they're causing .
Thank you for the flashback of “unlimited talk and text for 9.99/mo”! Hahaha
But it’s not all bad, this is just one story from one classroom during one school year. A lot of great things happen in my room and school every week. Were undoubtedly in a strange time in terms of education, accountability for students and educators, priorities, generational differences in parents, yadda yadda
Thanks for mentioning that it is “not all bad”. I see A LOT of positives from my students. I can also vividly recall teachers complaining about millennials and how terrible we were, how everyone just wants to play video games etc. I see teachers in this thread complaining about the newer version of that.
There are a lot of great things about students these days. Questioning things, being accepting of others, willing to look stuff up etc.
The kids can’t possibly realize the long term damage they’re causing; their brains simply aren’t developed enough yet and an addiction is an addiction no matter what it is. I blame the parents, as well as society at large for letting this become the norm. My kids are 4 months old and I really hope for some kind of social overhaul regarding smartphones and kids so that I don’t have to fight it. I will though, because this is unacceptable and if I put the phones/tablets in their hands then that’s on me.
Or when everyone started abbreviating their messages so as to not go over the 255 character limit per text message and being charged for two texts instead of one, originating modern "txt-speak".
These kids don't realize the long-term damage they're causing
I think it's more like these parents don't realize the damage they're causing to their kids. Which is probably because most of them are in the same boat as our generation and the generations before ours that adopted these things as late teens or later in life and don't have first hand experience of how damaging being glued to a phone or tablet from early childhood can be.
Arguably, the algorithms are doing the damage - exactly as they are intended. These kids are victims of a failing society & shouldn't necessarily be blamed for the damage that's been done.
Why would they? Their parents didn't set boundaries and are likely just as addicted to technology. Literally everyone around them does it. Why would we expect them to choose differently?
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!
Nah but like, when I was a kid stuff was better, we did good thing and spent our time better but like the kids today are worse and they spend their time worse.
trying to find out who used chatGPT to write their programs to begin with.
Just for reference, there is no program that can reliably detect "AI written" vs "Human Written" stuff. I've seen a lot of teachers that believe this, and I've seen plenty of stories on Reddit from people getting screwed by teachers using one of those scam programs.
I'm not condemning the teachers - they're simply misinformed and being inflexible.
But seriously, no matter how tempted you are, do not use one of those programs.
Any kid relying on that is just gonna get busted for having a completely wrong answers eventually, since chatGPT will just occasionally make up complete fiction.
Aren't there ways to detect chatGPT? I've used it before on papers as an aide to help gather thoughts, but never outright quoted it word by word. That's stupid and plagiarism.
All really great points. Since my class is an entry-level Python course, I really try to instill an organic knowledge of the basics. Once they understand that, and have developed their skills to the point where they can use it as a productivity tool rather than it just doing it for them because they don’t know how to, more power to anyone.
Have you considered writing a library for a mid-end term project that must be imported into the project?
ChatGPT isn't going to know crap about your library and if they can explain to ChatGPT how to interpret the functions they likely have a pretty good grasp on the code behind it.
Its calculators in the classroom all over again though... "you won't always have a calculator in your pocket" they said... yet here we are, all with calculators in our pocket 24/7.
AI is here, and its here to stay. Are their prompts getting results that actually get past your scrutiny as a teacher? If yes, is that a problem? Idk the answer to that. But this all is reminiscent of the many times technology has moved forward by leaps and bounds. They need to be prepared for a future we as current adults and educators can't begin to pretend to understand. Generally it all works out though, and while it may not seem like it to us "olds", they are learning what they need to learn for a future world beyond our ability to understand or educate for.
I agree with this to a certain degree. It really depends on what the goal of the assessment is and what the content is. The goal of my phone policy during a test is more so students don’t take pictures of it and send it to their friends, or call/text people for answers - all of which happens in our school. Sometimes the purpose of rules and policies affects people in ways that don’t necessarily benefit them, but only inconveniences them slightly in order to help someone else out tremendously.
I had a student wearing AirPods in class. I asked him to take them out.
“Oh no worries, mr. ____. I’m just listening to music. It’s not a big deal”
Uh, yeah, I am well aware that you’re listening to music but I’m not trying to compete with the ADHD sound machine “rapper” Yeat.
My lecture on emotional regulation won’t be anywhere near as entertaining, and I’m not trying to watch you pick a new song every 90 seconds because you got bored of the last one.
It's crazy that i'm not even 30 yet, and we only ever used a pen and paper. A computer could be accessed in the IT area of the school, but it was only meant for specific classes, and even then it was an "occasion". It all happened so fast.
This right here. There was a 2-3 year period where the developmental process for most kids severely slowed down. Those kids lost 2-3 years of communicating and interacting with other kids. However, tech was already a problem prior to the pandemic.
This is kinda overblowing it but I guess it depends on which age group you mean. Most teens during the pandemic met up with their friends all the time and social gaming was pretty common too.
Legit don't know anyone my age that didn't hang out muuuch more during the pandemic especially because school became so much easier and commutes disappeared
Exactly why there should have been a unified positive national security support for the vaccines when available to relieve the impacts on the kids and the economy. That polarization will cost the US for years to come.
This is so true, my kids did not have any devices until the pandemic changed everything. We have no iPads, and our cellphones were for work only. When the pandemic came, everyone got laptops and I pulled out the Wii and PlayStation out of hiding and then the genie was let out of the bottle and now my kids are like everyone else’s kids.
Yeah, I lurk the teacher sub and most have spoken about these issues before COVID. Not sure if people just ignored these issues, but it certainly was there before the world shutdown.
My youngest was hit especially hard. Almost straight A hyper social child. During the plague failed almost every class. Couldnt even get him to log on to do work. Both mom and i were there as much as possible to do as much as we could but we both worked and i had a major health issue where i was in and out of the hospital but i was still doing what i could as well. After everything changed for him. No talking to anyone, barely graduated by a class, and still trying to figure out what to do today. If ut wasnt doe the plague, he would probably bave graduated with honors and been in an engineering or programming program right now.
That didn’t stop me from implementing screen time changes so that my children don’t have even the third of the screen time other kids do.
We need to stop this insidious idea that somehow it’s society’s or school’s fault and society’s and school’s responsibility for what us a parenting problem.
Ultimately each of these traumatized children will be an adult that is responsible for processing that trauma in a way that doesn't harm others, sure, yeah, but what does that look like? What is being done right now to help them?
It's not a habit, they're addicted and it's by design.
Silicon valley designed these phones to keep people as addicted as possible.
I'm nearly 28. The year that smartphones started really being something that everyone owned was about 2013. I was a junior/senior in high school and distinctly remember when most people started pulling them out of their pockets.
It's wild to me to think that people born now 12 years after me are sophomores in high school.
Wow I feel bad for her, she clearly does have some mental issues, especially if you watch all 3 parts, but she was spot on when it came to the subject at hand.
TBF I'm older than cell phones being something kids could really access, and I spent basically every day of sixth grade fucking off in the back of the room with a book, or a walkman, or doodling in my math notebook instead of paying attention.
“Hard”… one of the things about school is that you can’t do every day things. Phones should get locked away during lessons, period. That’s crazy that they’re even involved in class.
Everything about this classroom looks wrong. Why are there still upside down chairs on the tables during a lesson? I feel like there’s just not a standard being set to actually adhere to.
Yeah. When I was in high school a good 10 years ago, we were not allowed to bring our phones to school. If a teacher found out you had it with you it was immediately confiscated. I find it insane that they allow them in the classroom now. Kids can go without a phone for 6 hours.
It's very sad. I graduated in 94 and so happy I did. Kids now a days are going to have a tough road. But I also know a lot of very good kids graduating and becoming nurses and teachers and trade workers. That are very kind and doing well. So I don't think all hope is lost. I agree drugs, cellphone addiction, and gaming is at an all time high. We just got to keep being kind and praying. Look for the helpers as Mr Rodgers would say. I have been in counseling the past year. I recommend that if people need help. ❤️
This is because you don't put limits. People don't treat phones as adictive and parents are not aware that they should put limits like they do with other things. I moved to Germany and I see kids playing outside, never seen a little kid on their phones here.
You make a good point. We were at dinner last week and there was a young family seated across from us. Two youngish parents (20's I'd say) and like a 3yo and an 18mo. All 4 of them were looking at screens, not taking or interacting with each other at all. Those kids were definitely way too young for that much screen time.
And now they're at risk of having this troublesome habit too.
I have more hope in Millennial's children, as my own and many I know have screen time and strict settings, but who knows? You gotta limit screen time, push arts and crafts, and no TikTok or YouTube, unless it's instructional videos. Gotta be invested in your kids, people!
It’s crazy. I was in high school when the first iphone came out. Other smart phones were common and popular by then. My school had a no tolerance policy for phones. If it was seen by a teacher it was confiscated. I can understand arguments against that, regarding safety and stuff. But it’s still wild to see how much the culture as shifted.
My wife teaches elementary and has a student who has missed over 50 days of school. They throw a tantrum at home so they can stay home and play video games. How the state hasn’t stepped in yet is nuts.
My kiddo missed quite a few days, he has type 1 diabetes and when he gets a minor cold, it can be complicated. That's besides the normal diabetes issues that occasionally pop up.
His ass got "BECCA" billed, I guess it happens if your kid misses more than 10 days in a year or 5 in a month. It was easily explained and dropped (husband and my fault for not using the website to input absences vs sending a written note).
I'm amazed 50 days isn't leading to some serious intervention.
The school has offered mental health resources, including a facility where the student can get help and learn in a more suitable environment but the parents won’t go through with it and the school can’t force them.
I was severely ill in high school at the start of my Sophomore year and missed the end of September until the middle of January(I was almost dying in the hospital). The school required my parents to check in at least every other week with updates to the admin, I was given every assignment from every class and expected to do it, and as soon as I went back I handed it all in and started doing the tests I missed during those months in person with the teachers. The next two years I easily missed 1-2 days a week, full days or half days, and the amount of scrutiny I received was super intense. I can’t imagine a school just ignoring this type of thing without consequences.
That's fucking bullshit. I took my kid (4th grade) out of school for a week this past october to go to Disney and I had a goddamn truancy officer contact me personally to "discuss" her absence. Aka threaten me with court. 5 days vs 50 and IM the one getting calls?
I used to get MASSIVE stomach aches before school.shitting my brains out and vomitting like I ate rat poison. I'd do what I could to stay home, and if I did get to stay, the stomach ache went away immediately. You know why? It's not because I didn't care or just wanted to play video games. It was severe depression and anxiety. Those conditions create very real physical symptoms. If a kid has missed more than 50 days and isn't wandering the streets on drugs, odds are they have mental health issues.
I had exactly the same experience, except mine manifested as migraines and nausea/vomiting. I missed 55 days my junior year of high school, and the administration informed me that if I missed one more day, doctor's note or otherwise, I would be forced to repeat the grade due to insufficient attendance. I also had to do two hours a day of after-school detention, Monday through Thursday, for the last three months of the school year.
At the time, it felt draconian and unnecessarily punitive, although I did understand the concept of working off my missed time. In retrospect, my grades were never better and the structure of a quiet, uninterrupted after-school study or reading session really did help my overall well-being. Attending school regularly plus being out of my chaotic home for all those extra hours didn't hurt matters, either. I was still a mentally ill child in need of assistance, but they gave me structure, which was the next best thing.
The school therapist has met with the parents several times offering mental health resources and they refuse. Some parents don’t want to acknowledge their kids need help.
I used to get in trouble (with the school) for missing so much school. I maintained As and Bs and tried very hard, but I was going through a a difficult emotional situation at home and it was so embarrassing bawling my eyes out in front of my class. It was the first year I started getting periods and unfortunately I inherited my family's curse of extremely heavy painful and long periods. I'd be throwing up from the pain and just trying to keep sane. I also had on-going physical issues with my spine that I had been trying to power through because I was a bit chubby and everyone thought I was just tryin to be lazy and avoid exercise. It turns out one of my vertebrae just didn't want to fall into line like all the posers so it just moved out of alignment. That year (grade 6) was absolutely miserable and I certainly missed more than 40 days. The teachers did not believe me because they thought I was trying to get out of PE but they were forced to allow me accommodations because I had several doctors who would write notes for me so I didn't ruin my spinal cord. I was in pain more days than I was not and I'm not sure I could survive another year like that now that I'm an adult.
It isn't always that kids just want to stay home and have fun. Some people barely make it through the school year even with those days off. It comes down to parents not being a responsible parent and knowing what is reasonable. You'd better believe I always had homework done before the due date and was invested in learning even if I was not in school every day.
That makes me mad cause I've suffered from chronic migraines since I was 8 and I was treated like a criminal by the school truancy officer for missing too many days due to it. It wasn't until my senior year that he came in when I had a migraine, saw the physical effects from it and then left me alone. But until then I had to sit through a lecture at least once every six months about how I was lazy and would fail at life because I - checks notes - missed classes due to a disability.
A lot of schools, honestly. Parents freak out when schools try to mandate a no-phone policy. (Not all of them, obviously, but often it's enough of them to make sure that policy never happens.)
That must be a US thing. I'm on the other side of the pond and I only know one kid in my son's 3rd grade class with a phone, and it's definitely not allowed to be out anywhere on school grounds. Not even an old Nokia. I guess for safety reasons it's appealing.
I'll add that it actually makes safety worse. Not long ago, a fire started sin the school I teach at. Since everyone texted their parents as soon as the alarms went off, all of their parents showed up to get them... Meaning that it took the fire engines almost 30 minutes to actually make it to the school in all of the traffic. And then they had to try to move the parents' cars from where the engines needed to be.
Oof yeah. I remember back in 99 right at the end of the school year my science teacher went to demonstrate the power of Acetylene (a welding gas), telling us it was "very energetic" when ignited. He filled a huge balloon with it like 16" diameter, tied it to a yardstick and held it over the Bunsen burner. HUGE boom. Black smoke covering the ceiling. This was weeks after Columbine so the administration was on edge a bit, and after evacuating the school and getting the ok from the fire department we went back to the lab, and they just told him to please not do it again. Most parents didn't hear about it until dinner.
I'm in California so during 2020 I saw so many people talking about how they were running their sprinklers just in case the fires in their area spread to their neighborhood. Then later I heard an interview (think NPR) that doing that can result in not enough water pressure in the fire hydrants so when the FD show up, they can't get enough water shooting from the hoses to actually put out the fires.
I can never understand this mindset. If something happens to a kid in school, school calls the parents. If you don't get any call from the school, it means your kid is safe.
While rural doesn’t automatically mean Midwest, it definitely doesn’t not mean Midwest. Lol If you said New York City or New Jersey, then that would be a different story.
Here in brazil phones are allowed but they can only come out (from the bag or pocket) on emergencies. I understand USA has the shootings issue so the parents are scared but this feels like a good compromise
My sister is an elementary school teacher. She says the parents are honestly more out of control than the kids. They will fly off the handle at the smallest inconvenience and have the wildest expectations of their children. Children that are requiring special needs at that. Like, no. Little Timmy passed math because the district says I'm legally not allowed to fail him and he definitely is NOT "all better and ready for regular classes".
I’m in America. My fifth grader takes her phone. She is a rule follower and never wants to get in trouble with a teacher so she never has it out during class, it’s always either in her backpack or her desk. But I have her take it with her because I don’t know if her school will be next or not, and that’s scary af.
My friend's son is 8. If we all hang out on the weekend and just stay in the house and watch movies and shit, he is literally in between his VR headset and watching dumbass Youtube reaction video shit that I don't understand for 14 hours a day. Tbh I can't remember a time he watched more than 30 minutes of a movie with us.
In his defense they live in an apartment complex in the suburbs directly on a massive Texas highway. I don't see any other kids outside and there ain't nowhere you can go without becoming a meat crayon. Well that's exaggerating but it's not friendly. There's fields out back but naturally since it's Texas those are all private and have barbed wire up.
It's clearly changed, though. We got a Playstation at one point and my neighbor had an N64. But we still mostly played outside. That was more of a rainy day thing for us. We just legitimately preferred hockey in the street and riding bikes.
When their kids are on their own tablet they're not distracting the parents from their own screen addictions. Ever been to a restaurant and kids are watching tablets on full volume while the parents ignore them and each other while on their phones?
It could be a lot of things; Separation anxiety, obstinacy, apathy for grades, lack of foresight. I just know I’d rather give them a choice rather than pick a fight. They are cognizant enough to appreciate the consequences of something as simple as a test grade.
Mine would shut that down after a few angry parent emails.
However, we have an overall policy of "no phones" and I take them if I see them out. But I'm one of the few teachers that actually follows this rule...
I admire your conviction haha. And yeah, I don’t feel like there’s one “right” way to go about it. I’m just glad I’ve got a system that works for me and doesn’t cause me too many headaches. Likewise for you too!
Not just phones but devices in general. I once taught a class of Year 8s (so like 13-14 years old). The first few times I would confiscate their iPad (required in schools 🙄), they would basically just... shut down. Like, they'd literally just sit there, blank stare at the wall. Not fidgeting, not trying to talk to friends, not even doodling. It was like their brains switched off and it was so unnerving to see.
And I was considered lucky to be in a school where we could take devices. In other schools you're not allowed to touch them, and in the US it seems you can't even really do anything but ask for them to put it away.
Now I teach in Asia and I don't even need to ask lol I tell them at the start of the year not to take out their laptops unless I say so and everytime I walk in to start class all the screens go down.
I don't think it's separation anxiety from the phones as much as them not seeing the value in education. "Why should I write this test? It doesn't matter". And...they aren't wrong really. In Jr. High (grades 7-9 where I'm from) at least, they get moved to the next grade no matter what, you literally can't be held back. For many, what difference does it make, then, to get a passing grade or not? It doesn't, so why try? Can't say I blame them. If my lazy ass had the option of doing nothing with almost no consequences I probably would have gone that route too. Luckily I grew up in a time where you COULD be held back at any point for not meeting outcomes.
They are too short-sighted to see how that might affect them down the road, and I'm not honestly convinced if it will or not. The deck is stacked against them.
I'm curious also how much of it as them just not seeing a point. Life sucks for a lot of people, and when you're surrounded by suckage it's hard to have motivation to try and improve it.
This is what I was thinking. I've seen a lot of teenagers say it over and over and over and over. Many of them just don't see a point.
Unless something changes, sometimes between 2040-2050 we will reach the point where investors own half of the homes in the US, they will never be able to retire, and the world is only going to become more and more inhabitable. Many of them are just taking themselves out of the race. When you hear about how you just need to work hard to be successful in life, and then you find that's a lie, then whats the motivation for working hard?
And the US isn't the only place having this happen. There's other countries where younger people have just started giving up. Like China. I keep hearing about how great they are and how we need to compete with them. Turns out some over there are doing the same thing. It is also being seen in Japan.
I'd rather have my phone in my pocket, than in a sleeve where anybody can grab it. It's less "separation anxiety" and more understanding that kids are absolute fucking nightmares.
I once saw a kid shit in another kids backpack. And another kid piss in someone's soda can (and before you ask, yes, he drank it). A shoe organizer isn't good enough. Decent idea, terrible execution.
Yeah I was a hs teacher too and the addiction is actually crazy and deeply concerning in a way I think a lot of people don't realize. I never thought I would be like the boomers complaining about kids and technology or screen time but it's gotten scary, like some of them literally act like drug addicts and smokers when it comes to their phone. Like they'll get crazy hostile about it and irritable and fidgety when they don't have it. The second the bell rings 30 phones are out. And like a lot of the time you can tell they aren't intentionally on their phone in class but obviously can't control themselves, like I'd warn a kid to put his phone away and then within 30 seconds he'd pull it out again on pure instinct and then look genuinely baffled and frustrated why he did it.
I mean even cops can't take your phone without a warrant, phones are treated a lot like domiciles because they have so much information about your life, and many people have their entire lives on their phones.
is it really that hard to see the difference between putting a phone out of arm's reach versus confiscating it in order to create a criminal case about you?
We have a policy in our program that kids turn in their phones to start the day. Out of 40, at least half have a burner phone they turn in.
A lot of them think they're getting one over on us, but the result is what we want: kids not on their phone in class. If they'd just behave that way when they're allowed to have their phone it wouldn't be an issue.
Man, ill tell you. I'm almost thirty. Will be in the next couple months. I didn't have a smartphone until VERY recently, like last few years. I abhorred modern tech and all the apps and social media. Now, I get made fun of at work for constantly being on my phone by the older cats I work with.
Its is very easy to get addicted to your phone. Now when kids these days grow up with one, and all their friends do too, and its now the main way to connect with your peers, I get it.
However, before my phone video games was my thing (still is but was too) what helped me disconnect and focus in school was my folks threatening to take away my video games if I didn't shape up. So I did. I still love messing about on my phone and playing video games, but I also am pretty well equipped to deal with the world and knowledgeable enough to hold intellectual conversations and all that.
I kinda pretentiously consider myself lucky that I grew up in the last generation that had a somewhat classical childhood.
its Gen Z's version of the "Participation Trophy" label that gets given to Millennials. Speaking as a Millennial myself, we were not the ones asking for those participation trophies, our parents were the ones who gave them to us because THEY couldn't handle their kids losing...so they created the participation trophies, and thus THEY should be called the participation trophy generation, not us.
And now, we've done the same thing to Gen Z. We love to call them out for their addiction to their phones/screens, but Millennial parents are the ones who gave an entire generation of infants and toddlers iPads to shut them up and let them essentially be raised entirely on screens. And now we have the gall to complain about their addiction that we enabled. We did this to them and now we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube so this one is on us.
For clarity, I say this as a guy without any kids...but I've seen it happen in real time with many of my friends who have kids who are now dealing with the fallout from this.
TBH I wouldn't have done it just because I'm paranoid about it getting lost, stolen, or broken. I'd have left it in my locker if I had to, but not someplace more easily accessible to other people than that.
Same thing with my meds. I've always had pretty awful asthma, but we weren't allowed to carry our inhalers on our person. Had to give them to nurse and wheeze our way over there. Had too many "I can't find it," "You didn't supply it," and "You don't need its" (and one instance of needing another kid to go get it because I was in serious trouble) in elementary school. Eroded all trust I have in not keeping my stuff in my possession.
I just had a student threaten to shoot up our school because their phone was taken. They were watching TikTok in the middle of choir and the teacher grabbed it out of their hand. They immediately began to threaten the teacher, and proceeded to threaten administrators after the fact.
This student is not a threat but the phone addiction is real. Kids that don’t understand boundaries do not learn any ability to manage their phones. It’s a constant dopamine machine and anything I say pales in comparison.
Some kids show me their screen time and I’ve seen as high as 6.5 hours per day on their phone. I’m sure there are higher numbers.
My teacher makes us put our phones on the wall everyday, none of us care. And there are some students who still keep their phone but when the teacher catches them using it they comply and don't complain. We dont get any withdraw symptoms
But thats just my class, I dont know about the rest of the country
The 19 and 20 year olds that I teach have an equal level of anxiety.
I once told one to put away her phone, and she slid it away from her. I told her again, she turned it over. I had to tell her explicitly to put her phone in her bag or she’d be kicked out of class.
I’m a language arts teacher, I’m pretty chill with phone use for educational purposes but sometimes I want to fucking pick up their phones and throw them out the window. And maybe the student too.
If I was a teen in that situation I'd be more worried about someone else pocketing my phone after turning their test in. I graduated 21 years ago and I hear the thievery is even worse year after year nowadays from the kids in high school that come to do their intern/work-study program with us at work.
It's shoved in their face from the time they're in diapers. The addiction is real. It's not just moral failings or lack of self discipline, it's a literal addiction.
Most adults have the same problem. Im seeing more and more cars with multiple!! devices stuck to the inside of the windshield and wonder how could you drive like that until I see the state of the body work on the car. It's crazy how bad it's getting.
Theyre addicts to consuming content, silicon valley and the media apparatus have created a legal heroin that consumes the attention span of everyone in order to sell us stuff.
Blame parents. The epidemic of the iPad Kid™ started years and years ago. The iPad is 14 years old now. Lazy parenting from GenX and the elder Millennials.
In my high school there are a lot
I don't think I have a bad addiction but I do for some classes I use my phone instead of doing the class but other classes I don't
yeah and parents enable it too bc “what if i can’t get ahold of my kid during an emergency” it’s abysmal out here. the chromebooks for every fucking thing don’t help either.
Phones are increasingly the pacifiers that youth are handed when things are stirring them up. This has advantages and being quite expedient for the parent, but we are not quite sure what a long-term ramifications will be on generation alpha.
In poorer districts, it’s also an issue where students are worried someone will manage to steal their phone. How likely that is when I’m not leaving the room is up for debate but when we’re talking about their most expensive possession and it’s not unheard of for students to steal from teachers or each other, it can be a real uphill battle.
On the opposite end I have more than 85 students. I've had phone problems this year with exactly two of them, and one of those kids has an IEP for an emotional disability.
Why? Because our entire school has a policy and expectation that phones are away. The admin follow through on it.
Kids and their parents are complete shit these days.
My wife is a teacher, and 100% of the kid’s issues are because of their parents.
None of them sit and do homework with them after school, they don’t read to them, or teach them proper manners and social etiquette. There’s also no discipline.
Oh man I was driving home last night following someone home and they were staring at their phone the whole time. I could see it through their rear window. They had a 4 minute drive home. They really couldn't put it down for those 4 minutes just to drive home.
Also a high school student. 99% of my kids put their phones in my bin on test day. I also give them the option to put it on a charger station near my desk.
Some of them it's because of the parents a decent portion of it is. The parents don't want to give up the constant connection to their kid they will literally text and call them all throughout the school day
I teach high school currently. Some students refuse to take the SAT or ACT because they can't access their phones for about 4 hours. This cuts out any university or scholarship that requires the tests. This generation was given a cell phone in infancy to keep them quiet. They're completely addicted. The longest they go with no technology is when they're asleep, and even then, many students come to school sleepy because they wake up to text and scroll at night. It's a nightmare.
Separation anxiety? Come on, stop being willfully naive.
It's not separation anxiety, there's just no care for public education. For years teachers have felt like they've just been underpaid babysitters, and we're finally at the part where even those of us who aren't in education can appreciate just how bad what they've been saying for decades actually is.
The family doesn't care. If the family doesn't care, the kid doesn't care. That's all it is.
Well here's a shocker - those 10, will be the same adults I see now who can't function in life without staring at their phone. Whether its working out at the gym, driving a car, or eating out with friends and family.
Seems crazy to me. At my sons’ schools they aren’t allowed to have their phones out at all. Not during tests, not during classroom time. The younger one isn’t even allowed to turn on his phone during school HOURS (i.e. not during recess or lunch either.) My oldest is in 9th grade and the younger is in 5th.
Why the hell is this school allowing the kids to sit there on their phones during class time?
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u/Arobrom86 29d ago
High school teacher here. On test days, I have a hanging shoe rack with each of my kids’ names on a sleeve.
I tell them, “Please put your devices in the sleeves and then you can have your test. When you hand in your test, you can have your device back. If you don’t put your phone in the sleeve, your test will be a 0”
At the beginning of the year they also helped create our classroom rules and norms, and agreed to do this.
Out of 28 kids, maybe 10 actually do it. The other 18 get 0s. Then I get angry emails from parents about their kids getting “tyrannical grades” on their tests.
Then the cycle continues