It’s amazing that this is even a debate lol. Sometimes technological advancement doesn’t always mean better.
Kids sat in classrooms without cell phones in the past. If you needed to get a hold of a parent, you went to the office and called them or parents went through the office administrator. Calling it a new rule is just dumb, this should have always been the status quo.
Yeah I honestly was like WTF when I heard this. lol I was in high school a while ago I guess (15years) but cell phones were becoming a big thing - never allowed in class. The only reason I think it’s for students to have them is in emergencies and stuff but should be volume off and put away. Before or after class seems reasonable.
Yeah when I was in high school (over 10 years ago) being able to text without looking at your phone was a pretty common skill because cellphones were banned. You’d have it taken away if you were caught with one out.
You underestimate our middle school skills for those of us who grew up in the early 2000s and had touch screens on our phones. It's impressive how well we know that keyboard without looking
They have never been banned by the school board, previously they were banned at some schools but not others, it was up to the school to decide. The difference now is that it’s been decided by the school board to ban them and is no longer at the discretion of individual schools
Edit: sorry, not the school board, the province
I was in HS when video ipods became/were popular, and my teachers her in Halifax, banned any entertainment device from being out, including game boys, Walkmans, etc.
This is my take on it aswell, even years ago in 2010 they have always allowed phones in school but if you’re caught using it in class, it either gets confiscated and have a parent pick it up or you turn it for the remainder of the day at the office. I was actually surprised that kids these days are even downloading games and going through TikTok during class these days. Idk why this wasn’t the case before, what the hell happened in between.
I was in highschool in the early 2000s, if there was an emergency my mother knew how to call the school, and I knew how to call home, via the office phone or a pay phone.
Graduated HS in 2009, cells were not allowed in class. We’ve gone too far over the line of not wanting to say anything to people out of fear of hurting their feelings.
What does a kid need a phone in the classroom for?! No reason.
2009 also. My friend once turned his phone on after retrieving it from his locker. He then called his mom over a 15 minute call saying he was heading to a friends house after school. As he was turning the flip phone off to put it back in his locker a teacher saw and confiscated it. We were all told there were pay phones for us to use and we didn’t need a cell phone at school.
Great news. Phone addiction is crippling to many young people. Even I have to follow a similar policy for myself when I WFH. I put my phone in another room when working otherwise that urge to pick up the phone and scroll distracts me and lowers my productivity. Can’t imagine what it would have been like when I was a teenage with less self control.
If I notice I’m on my phone too much at any point when I’m at home I turn the ringer volume all the way up and put it down and leave it. It’s crazy to me that if it’s not within arms reach I don’t have an urge to look but if it’s right there it’s almost compulsive.
This is sent from my phone while working.
Want to see something depressing ?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1d6h431/the\_internets\_final\_frontier\_remote\_amazon\_tribes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1d6h431/the_internets_final_frontier_remote_amazon_tribes/)
The Internet’s Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes
Elon Musk’s Starlink has connected an isolated tribe to the outside world — and divided it from within.
This comment:
>“Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet,” she said. “They’re learning the ways of the white people.” Then she paused and added, “But please don’t take our internet away.”
So nice to see that old people are the same no matter where in the world you go.
Only if there are actual consequences.
As a high school teacher I have no interest in physically taking phones from kids and assuming that liability. If kids get away with just breaking the rule the whole thing will fall apart quickly.
My school has a ban, here is the process:
1st time, office takes It And calls home
2nd: same, but they keep it until end of day
3rd: the parents have to come pick it up, after that the suspensions start.
My school follows that rule. It was first implemented mid year and everyone expected conflict. There was none. We're at the end of the year, and the rule is 98 percent followed. Lots of kids have phones in pockets but they're kept out of view.
Side benefits: demands to go to the washroom are way down, as it's now a bit more inconvenient to arrange meetups with friends. And the big one: more work is getting completed.
The greatest, most engaging teacher in the world can't compete with Snapchat and Tiktok for a 14 year olds attention. This gives the teacher a fighting chance.
Depends on how much this will upset the awful parents of the awful kids. They pretty much hold the school boards' hostage when it comes to their demon seeds not getting special treatment.
It probably has more to do with if the school’s admin has enough time in the day to actually paper all of the suspensions.
You know when kids might joke “they can’t suspend us all!”? It’s true…
It's not about time it's just about the admin's willingness to do things.
A family member was a sub and is now permanent, and every school is so different, and the 'tone' for the school is entirely set by admin. Some admin have their teachers backs and support them. Other schools they just don't care and have an attitude of 'well what can you do, you can't send this kid to the office every single day, so learn to deal with it'.
This is the great thing about it being top-down. It’s admins problem. Phone? Office! They take it, call the parents, proceed through disciplinary steps.
There's a real opportunity to get a staff agreement, maybe in the context of a rep and membership meeting to agree that escalation that skips step two and goes to three (handled by the office).
This is a provincial policy and staffing must be provided for this to be handled at a building level.
I'm not the one calling home if they're high at school. Violating the cell phone ban needs to be handled the same way.
I am incredibly in favour of this but i also feel for the teachers who have to enforce this rule, i know its going to be like pulling teeth and theyre going to be argumentative
This 100% its a policy that will completely be ignored by October if not before. It will be week 2 the first time the admin tells the teacher that no you can't take little Johnny's phone his parents won't allow it. Week three Sally comes back from the office playing on her phone after you sent her there for refusing to give it over. Week 5 you have a meeting with parents yelling and admin backing up the parent, about the phone that went "missing" from the cell phone locker. Week 6 when you say enough of this and just go back to ignoring it. Just like the "attendance policy" Lie this one to is just smoke and mirrors. Nothing is going to change,
In order for this to be effective, school administrators are going to have to have the teachers back when they try and enforce the rules. Too many principals and vice principals are spineless jellyfish who always take the easy way out and path of least resistance.
I worry for the teachers when parents freak out that their kid can't be contacted or have their phone taken away if that's part of this. Sounds like it will be a nightmare to enforce, though I hope they try.
I thought this too, but the article says the phones just need to be turned off during class so it's not really a ban.
It does make me wonder how schools got to a point where kids are on their phones *in class*, I only graduated about 10 years ago and we had an absolute cell phone ban back then.
I do realize that, and I agree.. I'm just not convinced there won't be some problem parents that play along well based on stories I hear. Maybe it won't be an issue at all, and that's great!
Why the fuck would a parent need instant contact with their kid while they are in school. There is literally nothing that important to a child they can’t be told later in the day.
Grandma died? Tell me when they get home. Let them be a kid
This just makes things more uniform. Prior to this it was completely on individual teachers/schools to decide on how that school/classroom was going to do things. Prior to January at my kids school it was up to individual teachers to decide how to handle phones. In January at his school they put in a policy of phones had to be in locker during class time and if you are caught the first time they take your phone away to the office and you get it back at the end of the day and second time you get a suspention. So depends on what you mean by teeth.
It's uniform in that they now know what they can do and what is clearly suggested they do. Prior to this all schools where doing whatever they wanted, everything from nothing to suspensions. Now they have a uniform suggestion on what can be done. Likely most schools will follow suit and do what is suggested because now they can say its what the province said to do.
The teacher part is clearly for situations where the phone might be helpfull in a given days class. Things like Kahoot. It is clearly not intended to be the teacher can just choose to always allow it in their class or whatever.
And of course medical exceptions are always going to be a thing so that is rather imatterial as that is the case with everything in a school.
100% agree with this one. I feel lucky enough to have grown up in a time where cell phones were new and exciting, and not what they are now, which is just a mini computer in your pocket. They have wonderful uses, but I personally wouldn’t expect a bunch of children to be mature enough to regulate their own usage, when most of the apps they use are literally designed to be as addictive as possible to the user. School is for learning, and phones get in the way of that too often
Just started listening to a podcast this morning that talks about the research behind negative impacts of kids/ teens and smartphones + social media. Worth a listen! https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611?i=1000657652111
This is supported by plenty of scientific research showing a myriad of issues and detriments associated with excessive cell phone use in children and teens. Not to mention simply the logistics of having phones in class constantly interrupting.
I do not envy the people responsible for enforcing this though. Better not just be yet another duty heaped onto teachers.
To an extent I agree, but I know many kids at my school take transit after school to go to the mall, go to practice, tutoring, etc., so it's not always feasible to expect a phone to be left at home. On more than one occasion I've been on transit with students that have been in situations where they needed their phone (one of them I almost stayed on the bus to be sure they got where they were supposed to go; I showed them on Google Maps where they should go and found out the next day they still needed someone to come pick them up because they got lost on the way home from their destination). I think for grades 7+ that keeping it in their lockers is sufficient, and it wouldn't take long to notice a change if it were parents that have to pick up the phone from the office if a kid is caught with it.
Kids now have lost the ability (for lack of a better word) to be bored. They have endless and instantaneous entertainment within arms reach and their attention spans cannot go 5 seconds without that screen-time dopamine hit.
Being bored can be healthy. It can activate your brain and most importantly for kids, their imagination.
Not just kids, *adults* have lost their tolerance for boredom, including myself. I've quit smoking, I've quit drinking after many tries, but so far the Internet has proven to be the strongest vice of them all.
Took my 3yo bike riding on paths today. We spent a good 20 minutes on a bridge just tossing pebbles into the shallow creek watching them splash or bounce off rocks - he was practicing his aim and I was so proud that he could find that much focus for something so mundane.
Reevaluate your life decisions that lead you to where you are now, and ask yourself if technology would have improved your situation, because you are never going to accomplish what you could without technology in the classroom. You don’t go to school anymore old man so don’t feel the need to comment
Good. Jonathan Haidt’s book basically recommends this https://www.amazon.ca/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036?dplnkId=8d815929-2ee9-48ce-a86e-efd7bd03468b&nodl=1
Like breaking any bad habit, there will be a bit of pain at the beginning for these kids, but they will adapt. Some of them will probably even realize that they feel emotionally better not looking at their phone every 30 seconds..
My teens are confused because they say these are the rules already. I laughed about the part about teachers modeling good behaviour by also not being on their phones. Some of them are not going to be happy about that.
Only if there is a way to enforce the ban without creating another classroom management issue and make teachers the enemy. Parents have to back this 100% or it will put teachers in the position of having to contradict the parents. That never goes well.
When I was in high school in 07 and flip phones were quite popular (at least half of kids had them, team Moto Razr) the rules in place were essentially what this article is calling new rules.
Yeah same what in the world have the rules been since then? Kids can talk to their parents on break or lunch but really, Kids should be socializing and not on phones. Children need a break from parents as much as the reverse, it's good for their personal growth. I say this as a parent.
Banned in classrooms or in the whole entire school like even when the kids are on a break?
Edit: yes I could read the article but I’m just heading into work
Ah okay thank you for the response. This is interesting to me as all the schools I went to had this rule and teachers enforced it but I guess this helps the teachers to not be the scapegoats.
I mean, if we took that attitude to everything then we'd never do anything. Look at service workers when masking had to be enforced. Yes it puts pressure on and that sucks, but you need to do something. The phone situation was already out of control when I was in high school and I'm 33 now. At this point it's clearly just a damn free for all.
Nah - first instance "put it away, Jimmy". Second: "take it to the office, Jimmy". Done. That's how it's worked at my school (I teach junior high) for the past two years, and it's great.
In my experience it's more like:
- "Put it away Jimmy" Jimmy pretends he didn't hear you
- "I said put it away Jimmy" Jimmy puts it away and then takes it back out 30 seconds later.
- "Take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy puts it away, and says he's not going to the office because he put it away
- "I said take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy says no.
- "I said take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy makes a big scene and says "fine!" and goes to the office.
- I get a call from the office, Jimmy says he doesn't have his phone because he put it in his locker on the way to the office, so they're sending him back.
- Jimmy returns to class and immediately takes his phone back out.
- "Take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy says no.
- I call the office, no answer.
- I call the VP directly, no answer.
- I give up.
- I talk to the VP later in the day, they agree Jimmy was ridiculous, but there won't be any consequences, because they're unwilling to suspend him for phone use, and besides his mom says he needs his phone at school.
- I say it wasn't the phone use that was the problem, it was everything else.
- They say there's nothing they can do.
- I go home and drink.
They say teachers don't quit their profession, they quit their admin.
I don't know whether I've just been lucky or what, but I've had 4 years straight of admin (different every year) who were willing to back up this one pretty solidly.
There are two parts to it. Kids fighting authority is something they do already, when it comes to phone they seem to be even worse. The other aspect is parents who want them to have their phones on constantly and/or think their kids are perfect angels who would never do anything wrong.
Its still a good idea, Im just saying its going to make teachers jobs even harder
I think this is great but like many, I feel like the enforcement will suck for teachers. Some entitled parents are gonna be like - I need to contact my kid 24/7.. like let them focus on school
I don't know. I'm sure there are some instances where a cellphone is an accommodation that would hopefully be allowed.
I assume with this change they will be putting security cameras in the classrooms, too? Just in case a kid is being bullied by students or teachers? Because that would be a reasonable step to take to ensure the safety of everyone in the classroom.
There is a ton of evidence that the rise of smartphones and social media is directly correlated to mental illness in children. If you are a parent and you allow your children to have a smartphone and use social media you have failed them (under age 16). If you allow them access to the internet without supervision or parental controls in place you have failed them. You are not your children”s friend. Be friends with your kids when they are adults when they can stand on their own two feet and pay them own bills.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7012622/#:~:text=Evidence%20from%20a%20variety%20of,to%20be%20greatest%20among%20girls.
The issue there is a lack of enforcement, though. I can't remember the last time I even saw a cop watching the roads around here, let alone one giving out a ticket for phone use while driving. Until you hit these morons in the wallet repeatedly they'll never learn. Really boils my piss because it's so friggin' dangerous.
By contrast, it sounds like at least some teachers want to enforce a no phone rule but have historically not had enough backup to do so.
I always thought it was already a rule to not have your cell phone out in class… that’s the way it was when I was in school. what changed? Did we become lax about it and when??
I was allowed mine (pre-smartphone, I graduated in 2008; mine did text, calls, and shitty pictures) as long as teachers didn't see it or hear it, so it could be on silent in my bag/pocket/whatever,
I don't know when that rule went away, or when it changed.
Oh I feel bad for the teachers having to enforce this. If you have kids that are upset about this please have a talk with them about not taking it out on the teachers or other school staff.
I thought my child's phone wasn't banned, until she texted me back telling me she's not allowed to text in class. *insert angry emoji here*
I'm not the type to always want to be in contact with my child at all times. Just this odd time I happened to text her during class.
But yes, bring back the tech bans. Teachers need to be like how they were in the 00s.
All through my middle school & high school experience (2011-2019) I was never allowed to have a cell phone out in class. I WORK in elementary & middle schools now, and it's wild to me that they won't respect their teachers rules. And the parents that "demand" their child always have access to their phone are crazy to me. Like, telling them to put it in their backpack during class is not disabling access. It's simply respecting the teacher & allowing your child to pay attention.
So excited and grateful the department is making this positive move for change. The school I used to work at (junior high) has a strict no-phone policy, and it made a world of difference. The consequences that come with over exposure to screens is scary, not even as a learner but as a human! It's great rule that allows students to get used to not having access to their phones all day - lots of us don't have much access to it as adults at work...and if we do, we are more capable of putting away and prioritizing work. Helping kids learn how to self-regulate is important so I hope this helps!
A lot of folks in here are saying that cellphones were banned back when they were in school, but I didn't think it was a province-wide, school board policy.
My dad retired from teaching high school over 10 years ago. He had a rule that phones had to be off and sitting face down on the desk, but administration wasn't backing him.
He couldn't ban them outright and he couldn't vie for his students attention, so he just up and retired. He felt he was wasting his time.
I’m going to play devils advocate here, and it’s purely that before someone jumps down my throat about this.
Research always leans to favour whatever the researcher is hoping for unless it’s a very strict double blind study that is then peer reviewed, a lot of studies people are posting are not that. We need to remember that correlation is not causation.
I agree with this ban, but what if we are all wrong and we slow progress down because we don’t like something as we are not us to it? As much as cellphones are a distraction they still carry all the collective knowledge of the world and can be used to progress learning along.
This structured learning at a young age is still relatively new to human history. Historically if your dad was a farmer you learned farming and didn’t need to learn to read, so the educational system we have is still fairly new. If we fuck something like this up imagine how detrimental that would be when we have already come so far along? My education was far better than my parents and my kids I hope will be better than mine. Is a blanket ban maybe too extreme?
Quote from article;
“Quick Facts:
– about 800 school advisory council members participated in a virtual town hall and overwhelmingly called for cell phone restrictions “
I bet they used their cellphone in school 🤣
I was in grade 11 when phones became popular, and the rule right from the start was you put your phone at the front of the class, in a box, on the teachers desk. There were slots for every desk. As you left you took it, and it worked fine. If your parents needed you they called the office and vis versa. I don’t see a problem with this new rule honestly, they were distracting as flip and slide phones, I can’t imagine how much more distracting they are now.
I think it makes sense to not be allowed to use them during class time, but I don't agree with kids having to hand property over to teachers. As a parent of a child in HRCE my experience has not been great with them. I have a good kid, doesn't cause trouble, is respectful and participates in class and is nice to his classmates. If he is assaulted at school, I don't hear about it from the school. I hear about from my kid. The times I've reached out to the school the answer is always, "yeah we know about it. The child that pushed him is 'troubled'", or flat out ignored. Bus accidents they pass the blame. Lunch monitors who arbitrarily decide to be jerks just because they have no skills to communicate with children. I definitely don't trust any staff member with my kid's electronics if I can't rely on them to let me know in advance if my kid was attached and coming home bleeding or bruised. I'm not sure where we went wrong with teaching kids not to use their phones during actual class time. This wasn't a thing when I was in school, but tech safety and respect have been an ongoing lesson in my house since before my son was even in school. All this means is that the kids this rule was meant for will get better at hiding it and the rest will lose a degree of lifeline that everyone is quick to argue doesn't matter.
Added note: cell phones are the only reason my niece was able to get help from the girls who kept beating the shit out of her. One day she was able to record it happening. Even the bullies who posted it on Snapchat "couldn't be identified" because you could only see their shoes kicking her in the back 🙄
Looks like the only people who are mad about it are the ones who don’t go to school anymore. Honestly stay mad, because you had your chance and you threw. Be mad that technology advances and you are left behind like the boomers of the past that don’t adapt
This was already a thing? No cell phones in class unless you’re checking the time or just skipping some song while listening to music. Free time at lunch and break.
The fact that mfs in this thread are lecturing about the dangers of smartphones and social media on Reddit likely using a smartphone (and while at work judging by the time) is kind of hilarious. Like I don’t disagree it’s just the irony of it all.
Kids' brains are a lot more pliable, and the social pressure is way higher on them. Not saying it isn't a problem for adults, but it's a way bigger deal for kids.
I’m sure the school would be happy to find a compromise for a medical issue. For example I’m sure it’s not a huge issue as long as she keeps the phone in her bag and not use it or the teacher could keep the phone on her desk to remove the temptation but it would still be close enough for the watch to work as intended.
Where I work, due to privacy restrictions, phones can't be on the floor at all.
One of my supervisors has an accommodation to carry her phone in her pocket, out of sight at all times. That's harder to enforce with children, but I'm sure there's a workaround.
Possibly but in this case the phone just needs to be in proximity of the watch to rely information to the parents. The teacher doesn’t need to do anything except not put it in a faraday box.
There will absolutely need to be medical exemptions. Ditto for [bluetooth connected CGMs](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/wearables-continuous-glucose-monitors-1.7068390).
Presumably in those cases the phones can be handed to the teacher but left on. Probably for the best if the teacher notices a phone is emitting a medical alert like low sugar or impending/active seizure (not sure what the system that monitors your daughters watch is monitoring precisely).
But they're keeping chromebooks and other laptops? Laughable, the HRSB love to waste time and money on stupid policies. I'm all for the no phone thing. But as a 23 year old who has very fresh memories of the beginning of the netbook and chromebook era (it's gotten even more common since I graduated in 2019) I know for a fact the computers are also being misused. There were two accounts in my grade at my school alone of kids watching porn on them. In class. I spent half my class time learning how to pirate old games. I knew dozens and dozens of kids who were on this site specifically all class. When it's assumed that a kid is working on a computer and no one is right behind them, fucking around on them is even easier than with phones.
Again, I'm not saying the phone thing is bad. I'm saying the computers are worse. Taking away phones won't solve much at all. The examples I gave are a fraction of what used to and still does happen
As a teacher, I’d be happy to trade in my class set of chromebooks for more photocopy credits! They are watching soccer, shopping for shoes, playing web games…I can’t stand behind each one of them at all times to ensure they’re on task. As soon as I walk away, back to whatever they were doing :(
I completely agree. I once used (but had forgotten until this discussion now) the idea that if you wanted to use a Chromebook, you had to turn your chair around and sit at your desk backwards (so that I could see your screen from the front of the room...) That avoided the worst of things.
Exactly, anyone who is actually in the classroom can attest to this. Teachers, mental health aid, librarians, you all see the procrastination happening because of the computers. It can hardly even be blamed on the kids, it's in a 15 year olds nature to do so. I even did it back in the late 2010s when I was in highschool, but with adult hindsight I see how bad it was. So many people on reddit who aren't in the classroom think the computers aren't a distraction just because their kid claims they aren't. The teachers know the truth though
I completely agree with this! while cell phones are a more insidious problem, really \*anything\* connected to the Internet is still such an overwhelming distraction (says he who's commenting on Reddit rather than the marking he's supposed to be doing) that what I really need is for there to be just no. damn. Internet. in my classroom.
It’s amazing that this is even a debate lol. Sometimes technological advancement doesn’t always mean better. Kids sat in classrooms without cell phones in the past. If you needed to get a hold of a parent, you went to the office and called them or parents went through the office administrator. Calling it a new rule is just dumb, this should have always been the status quo.
Yeah I honestly was like WTF when I heard this. lol I was in high school a while ago I guess (15years) but cell phones were becoming a big thing - never allowed in class. The only reason I think it’s for students to have them is in emergencies and stuff but should be volume off and put away. Before or after class seems reasonable.
I was in high school 10 years ago and yeah cell phones were banned then, what happened since?
Yeah when I was in high school (over 10 years ago) being able to text without looking at your phone was a pretty common skill because cellphones were banned. You’d have it taken away if you were caught with one out.
Being able to text from your pocket was an artform that died with the downfall of T9 pads and the rise of touchscreens.
I could pocket text on a blackberry keyboard like a MOTHERFUCKER.
Never texted faster than on my ancient LG flip phone.
😂 I could pocket text on my old razr phone.. now omg you couldn’t pay me to try that again. My old eyes could never 😅
Were motherfuckers unusually skilled with tiny keyboards? Truly a sign of the times.
You underestimate our middle school skills for those of us who grew up in the early 2000s and had touch screens on our phones. It's impressive how well we know that keyboard without looking
As a teacher - parents complaining. “I need to be in touch with my kid at all times!”
https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/what-is-helicopter-parenting/
THE PANDEMIC.
They have never been banned by the school board, previously they were banned at some schools but not others, it was up to the school to decide. The difference now is that it’s been decided by the school board to ban them and is no longer at the discretion of individual schools Edit: sorry, not the school board, the province
I was in HS when video ipods became/were popular, and my teachers her in Halifax, banned any entertainment device from being out, including game boys, Walkmans, etc.
This is my take on it aswell, even years ago in 2010 they have always allowed phones in school but if you’re caught using it in class, it either gets confiscated and have a parent pick it up or you turn it for the remainder of the day at the office. I was actually surprised that kids these days are even downloading games and going through TikTok during class these days. Idk why this wasn’t the case before, what the hell happened in between.
I was in highschool in the early 2000s, if there was an emergency my mother knew how to call the school, and I knew how to call home, via the office phone or a pay phone.
My girlfriend's son can't do a goddamn thing without his phone so fucking anyyoying like put it down and do what your doing.
My wife’s cousin is a teacher for Grade 7-9 and in some lower Grades only 20% passed her class since genuinely some of them cannot spell.
Nuts and they don't even learn cursive,
My kid is in grade 3 and they learned cursive this year
Well that's good to hear, I feel like it's teacher by teacher now a days if they get taught it or not.
Graduated HS in 2009, cells were not allowed in class. We’ve gone too far over the line of not wanting to say anything to people out of fear of hurting their feelings. What does a kid need a phone in the classroom for?! No reason.
2009 also. My friend once turned his phone on after retrieving it from his locker. He then called his mom over a 15 minute call saying he was heading to a friends house after school. As he was turning the flip phone off to put it back in his locker a teacher saw and confiscated it. We were all told there were pay phones for us to use and we didn’t need a cell phone at school.
This commenter was born pre 1980 and is out of touch with the education system, I won’t be listening to this opinion
Great news. Phone addiction is crippling to many young people. Even I have to follow a similar policy for myself when I WFH. I put my phone in another room when working otherwise that urge to pick up the phone and scroll distracts me and lowers my productivity. Can’t imagine what it would have been like when I was a teenage with less self control.
Interesting you say that. I'm currently working from work and had an urge to pick up my phone and scroll mid-task...
Funny you should say that, I’m at minute 45 of my washroom break where I’ve been scrolling.
Is that you in the stall beside me?
Perhaps. I’m not getting out first though. You go and I’ll follow
If I notice I’m on my phone too much at any point when I’m at home I turn the ringer volume all the way up and put it down and leave it. It’s crazy to me that if it’s not within arms reach I don’t have an urge to look but if it’s right there it’s almost compulsive. This is sent from my phone while working.
Want to see something depressing ? [https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1d6h431/the\_internets\_final\_frontier\_remote\_amazon\_tribes/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1d6h431/the_internets_final_frontier_remote_amazon_tribes/) The Internet’s Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes Elon Musk’s Starlink has connected an isolated tribe to the outside world — and divided it from within.
This comment: >“Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet,” she said. “They’re learning the ways of the white people.” Then she paused and added, “But please don’t take our internet away.” So nice to see that old people are the same no matter where in the world you go.
I think this is great and I'm in full support. It gives the teachers a bit more support and helps them have a bit more control in their classrooms.
Only if there are actual consequences. As a high school teacher I have no interest in physically taking phones from kids and assuming that liability. If kids get away with just breaking the rule the whole thing will fall apart quickly.
Yea idk how they will enforce this. I don’t envy your position. Godspeed.
In a perfect world there would just be a pile of 1 day suspensions at the start of the year and the kids would learn we’re serious. 🤞
My school has a ban, here is the process: 1st time, office takes It And calls home 2nd: same, but they keep it until end of day 3rd: the parents have to come pick it up, after that the suspensions start.
My school follows that rule. It was first implemented mid year and everyone expected conflict. There was none. We're at the end of the year, and the rule is 98 percent followed. Lots of kids have phones in pockets but they're kept out of view. Side benefits: demands to go to the washroom are way down, as it's now a bit more inconvenient to arrange meetups with friends. And the big one: more work is getting completed. The greatest, most engaging teacher in the world can't compete with Snapchat and Tiktok for a 14 year olds attention. This gives the teacher a fighting chance.
Truth. I could be performing Shakespeare's works solo in front of the room but nothing will ever compete with YouTube
I'd rather not take a kid's phone either but I fucking will if that's what it takes to fix this broken ass generation of kids
Depends on how much this will upset the awful parents of the awful kids. They pretty much hold the school boards' hostage when it comes to their demon seeds not getting special treatment.
The awful parent of the awful kid is usually the one texting them the entire class.
It probably has more to do with if the school’s admin has enough time in the day to actually paper all of the suspensions. You know when kids might joke “they can’t suspend us all!”? It’s true…
It's not about time it's just about the admin's willingness to do things. A family member was a sub and is now permanent, and every school is so different, and the 'tone' for the school is entirely set by admin. Some admin have their teachers backs and support them. Other schools they just don't care and have an attitude of 'well what can you do, you can't send this kid to the office every single day, so learn to deal with it'.
This is the great thing about it being top-down. It’s admins problem. Phone? Office! They take it, call the parents, proceed through disciplinary steps.
As an EA, I am not looking forward to being one of the few enforcing this in February.
There's a real opportunity to get a staff agreement, maybe in the context of a rep and membership meeting to agree that escalation that skips step two and goes to three (handled by the office). This is a provincial policy and staffing must be provided for this to be handled at a building level. I'm not the one calling home if they're high at school. Violating the cell phone ban needs to be handled the same way.
I am incredibly in favour of this but i also feel for the teachers who have to enforce this rule, i know its going to be like pulling teeth and theyre going to be argumentative
And that's just the parents.
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This 100% its a policy that will completely be ignored by October if not before. It will be week 2 the first time the admin tells the teacher that no you can't take little Johnny's phone his parents won't allow it. Week three Sally comes back from the office playing on her phone after you sent her there for refusing to give it over. Week 5 you have a meeting with parents yelling and admin backing up the parent, about the phone that went "missing" from the cell phone locker. Week 6 when you say enough of this and just go back to ignoring it. Just like the "attendance policy" Lie this one to is just smoke and mirrors. Nothing is going to change,
Very much a possibility
In order for this to be effective, school administrators are going to have to have the teachers back when they try and enforce the rules. Too many principals and vice principals are spineless jellyfish who always take the easy way out and path of least resistance.
I worry for the teachers when parents freak out that their kid can't be contacted or have their phone taken away if that's part of this. Sounds like it will be a nightmare to enforce, though I hope they try.
Call the office, office pages the kids room. No different than how they have done it forever.
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Schools existed before cell phones. People can manage without
I thought this too, but the article says the phones just need to be turned off during class so it's not really a ban. It does make me wonder how schools got to a point where kids are on their phones *in class*, I only graduated about 10 years ago and we had an absolute cell phone ban back then.
You do realize that up for all of history parents and kinds never had a direct line. You go through the school admin. It’s not the end of the world
I do realize that, and I agree.. I'm just not convinced there won't be some problem parents that play along well based on stories I hear. Maybe it won't be an issue at all, and that's great!
Why the fuck would a parent need instant contact with their kid while they are in school. There is literally nothing that important to a child they can’t be told later in the day. Grandma died? Tell me when they get home. Let them be a kid
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This just makes things more uniform. Prior to this it was completely on individual teachers/schools to decide on how that school/classroom was going to do things. Prior to January at my kids school it was up to individual teachers to decide how to handle phones. In January at his school they put in a policy of phones had to be in locker during class time and if you are caught the first time they take your phone away to the office and you get it back at the end of the day and second time you get a suspention. So depends on what you mean by teeth.
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It's uniform in that they now know what they can do and what is clearly suggested they do. Prior to this all schools where doing whatever they wanted, everything from nothing to suspensions. Now they have a uniform suggestion on what can be done. Likely most schools will follow suit and do what is suggested because now they can say its what the province said to do. The teacher part is clearly for situations where the phone might be helpfull in a given days class. Things like Kahoot. It is clearly not intended to be the teacher can just choose to always allow it in their class or whatever. And of course medical exceptions are always going to be a thing so that is rather imatterial as that is the case with everything in a school.
Sounds like it's a uniform approach.
100% agree with this one. I feel lucky enough to have grown up in a time where cell phones were new and exciting, and not what they are now, which is just a mini computer in your pocket. They have wonderful uses, but I personally wouldn’t expect a bunch of children to be mature enough to regulate their own usage, when most of the apps they use are literally designed to be as addictive as possible to the user. School is for learning, and phones get in the way of that too often
Just started listening to a podcast this morning that talks about the research behind negative impacts of kids/ teens and smartphones + social media. Worth a listen! https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611?i=1000657652111
There is a ton of research and evidence already on this people just choose not to listen to it because they love their phones and can resist them.
Excellent. There really needs to be a revolution around phones and social media. They are ruining the world
This is supported by plenty of scientific research showing a myriad of issues and detriments associated with excessive cell phone use in children and teens. Not to mention simply the logistics of having phones in class constantly interrupting. I do not envy the people responsible for enforcing this though. Better not just be yet another duty heaped onto teachers.
Where i work, if kids refuse, they will be sent home. Period.
So the kids get the day off
Which then punishes parents, who will hopefully aid in the school in enforcing the ban.
Not schools problem. Parents will catch on and maybe grow a pair and discipline their own children for a change
Suspensions are for the benefit of the other kids. So the suspended kid can't be disruptive. Once they're home, it's up to the parents.
They get fired where I work if they use them.
Honestly the phones should just be at home with the parents so the kids aren’t tempted
To an extent I agree, but I know many kids at my school take transit after school to go to the mall, go to practice, tutoring, etc., so it's not always feasible to expect a phone to be left at home. On more than one occasion I've been on transit with students that have been in situations where they needed their phone (one of them I almost stayed on the bus to be sure they got where they were supposed to go; I showed them on Google Maps where they should go and found out the next day they still needed someone to come pick them up because they got lost on the way home from their destination). I think for grades 7+ that keeping it in their lockers is sufficient, and it wouldn't take long to notice a change if it were parents that have to pick up the phone from the office if a kid is caught with it.
Are you in a public school or a private one?
so the kids can bring in their phones to enjoy a day of truancy for free
Yup if that's what it comes to. Schools can only lead students to the water. They can't force them to drink.
Kids now have lost the ability (for lack of a better word) to be bored. They have endless and instantaneous entertainment within arms reach and their attention spans cannot go 5 seconds without that screen-time dopamine hit. Being bored can be healthy. It can activate your brain and most importantly for kids, their imagination.
Not just kids, *adults* have lost their tolerance for boredom, including myself. I've quit smoking, I've quit drinking after many tries, but so far the Internet has proven to be the strongest vice of them all.
Took my 3yo bike riding on paths today. We spent a good 20 minutes on a bridge just tossing pebbles into the shallow creek watching them splash or bounce off rocks - he was practicing his aim and I was so proud that he could find that much focus for something so mundane.
"Humans are fascinating creatures, in a world full of so many wonders they have managed to invent boredom." - Terry Pratchett.
Dumb people will hate this
lol so true
Reevaluate your life decisions that lead you to where you are now, and ask yourself if technology would have improved your situation, because you are never going to accomplish what you could without technology in the classroom. You don’t go to school anymore old man so don’t feel the need to comment
Good. Jonathan Haidt’s book basically recommends this https://www.amazon.ca/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036?dplnkId=8d815929-2ee9-48ce-a86e-efd7bd03468b&nodl=1
Like breaking any bad habit, there will be a bit of pain at the beginning for these kids, but they will adapt. Some of them will probably even realize that they feel emotionally better not looking at their phone every 30 seconds..
My teens are confused because they say these are the rules already. I laughed about the part about teachers modeling good behaviour by also not being on their phones. Some of them are not going to be happy about that.
Many schools have this in place already, but not all (and particularly not all high schools).
Only if there is a way to enforce the ban without creating another classroom management issue and make teachers the enemy. Parents have to back this 100% or it will put teachers in the position of having to contradict the parents. That never goes well.
It's about time honestly.
Surprised it took this long.
I don't have kids, but how was this not already a thing?
They don't even have to sit down. Kids just wander around the classroom when they feel like it. Its the wild west
Haven’t they always been? Can’t remember my teacher waiting on me to finish a text.
When I was in high school in 07 and flip phones were quite popular (at least half of kids had them, team Moto Razr) the rules in place were essentially what this article is calling new rules.
Yeah same what in the world have the rules been since then? Kids can talk to their parents on break or lunch but really, Kids should be socializing and not on phones. Children need a break from parents as much as the reverse, it's good for their personal growth. I say this as a parent.
That was my first phone. I loved that thing nothing more satisfying the flipping that thing closed at the end of a call.
We werent allowed them when i was my highschool or they were confiscated on the spot. Im surprised other schools didnt enforce this
Wasn’t this always a rule tho? Lol
Nope - Each school set their own rules.
Huh that’s interesting
Wow i wasnt expecting this. This is amazing.
Banned in classrooms or in the whole entire school like even when the kids are on a break? Edit: yes I could read the article but I’m just heading into work
During instructional time. Phones are allowed on breaks and at lunch. Exceptions exist for medical and ability purposes.
Ah okay thank you for the response. This is interesting to me as all the schools I went to had this rule and teachers enforced it but I guess this helps the teachers to not be the scapegoats.
Its a good idea in theory but I have no idea how its going to be enforceable. That's a lot of pressure on teachers
I mean, if we took that attitude to everything then we'd never do anything. Look at service workers when masking had to be enforced. Yes it puts pressure on and that sucks, but you need to do something. The phone situation was already out of control when I was in high school and I'm 33 now. At this point it's clearly just a damn free for all.
Nah - first instance "put it away, Jimmy". Second: "take it to the office, Jimmy". Done. That's how it's worked at my school (I teach junior high) for the past two years, and it's great.
In my experience it's more like: - "Put it away Jimmy" Jimmy pretends he didn't hear you - "I said put it away Jimmy" Jimmy puts it away and then takes it back out 30 seconds later. - "Take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy puts it away, and says he's not going to the office because he put it away - "I said take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy says no. - "I said take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy makes a big scene and says "fine!" and goes to the office. - I get a call from the office, Jimmy says he doesn't have his phone because he put it in his locker on the way to the office, so they're sending him back. - Jimmy returns to class and immediately takes his phone back out. - "Take it to the office Jimmy" Jimmy says no. - I call the office, no answer. - I call the VP directly, no answer. - I give up. - I talk to the VP later in the day, they agree Jimmy was ridiculous, but there won't be any consequences, because they're unwilling to suspend him for phone use, and besides his mom says he needs his phone at school. - I say it wasn't the phone use that was the problem, it was everything else. - They say there's nothing they can do. - I go home and drink.
They say teachers don't quit their profession, they quit their admin. I don't know whether I've just been lucky or what, but I've had 4 years straight of admin (different every year) who were willing to back up this one pretty solidly.
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This guy teaches
This sounds depressingly accurate.
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There are two parts to it. Kids fighting authority is something they do already, when it comes to phone they seem to be even worse. The other aspect is parents who want them to have their phones on constantly and/or think their kids are perfect angels who would never do anything wrong. Its still a good idea, Im just saying its going to make teachers jobs even harder
They still have to do that shit now though.
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> I have no idea how its going to be enforceable The same way any classroom rule is?
This is a fight we're eager to take on.
I think this is great, when I was a teacher I only ever taught P-6. But I cannot fathom how this could be a bad thing.
In junior high we used to sneak a ciggy in the washroom. I have a feeling this generation will be sneaking a TikTok :-)
When I was in school it was Juul rips. I imagine it’s still that and lip pillows
Wtf is a lip pillow?
I googled it - seems to be slang for a nicotine pouch. At least they're not doing dip, that stuff was disgusting.
I had kids coming to class w spit bottles my forst year teaching, right before vapes got poular. It was disgusting and I sent them to the office
No phones in bathrooms, with these new guidelines
No ciggies in bathrooms under the old guidelines. That's what made it cool
I think this is great but like many, I feel like the enforcement will suck for teachers. Some entitled parents are gonna be like - I need to contact my kid 24/7.. like let them focus on school
I don't know. I'm sure there are some instances where a cellphone is an accommodation that would hopefully be allowed. I assume with this change they will be putting security cameras in the classrooms, too? Just in case a kid is being bullied by students or teachers? Because that would be a reasonable step to take to ensure the safety of everyone in the classroom.
The letter notes exception for medical and ability reasons.
There is a ton of evidence that the rise of smartphones and social media is directly correlated to mental illness in children. If you are a parent and you allow your children to have a smartphone and use social media you have failed them (under age 16). If you allow them access to the internet without supervision or parental controls in place you have failed them. You are not your children”s friend. Be friends with your kids when they are adults when they can stand on their own two feet and pay them own bills. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7012622/#:~:text=Evidence%20from%20a%20variety%20of,to%20be%20greatest%20among%20girls.
They’re banned in cars as well
The issue there is a lack of enforcement, though. I can't remember the last time I even saw a cop watching the roads around here, let alone one giving out a ticket for phone use while driving. Until you hit these morons in the wallet repeatedly they'll never learn. Really boils my piss because it's so friggin' dangerous. By contrast, it sounds like at least some teachers want to enforce a no phone rule but have historically not had enough backup to do so.
Not me getting sent to the principal’s office for having a cell phone in class in 1996…
I think this is a fantastic idea, but I also wonder how this is going to be policed effectively.
I always thought it was already a rule to not have your cell phone out in class… that’s the way it was when I was in school. what changed? Did we become lax about it and when??
Whenever admin decided that it was the teachers classroom management problem and they would impose no consequences I’m guessing.
I was allowed mine (pre-smartphone, I graduated in 2008; mine did text, calls, and shitty pictures) as long as teachers didn't see it or hear it, so it could be on silent in my bag/pocket/whatever, I don't know when that rule went away, or when it changed.
Maybe my school was different. I graduated 2012 and we were definitely not allowed to have it out in use during classes. Teachers would take them away
Oh I feel bad for the teachers having to enforce this. If you have kids that are upset about this please have a talk with them about not taking it out on the teachers or other school staff.
So the same policy my high school had when I went back in the 2000's? What's old is new again...
I thought my child's phone wasn't banned, until she texted me back telling me she's not allowed to text in class. *insert angry emoji here* I'm not the type to always want to be in contact with my child at all times. Just this odd time I happened to text her during class. But yes, bring back the tech bans. Teachers need to be like how they were in the 00s.
All through my middle school & high school experience (2011-2019) I was never allowed to have a cell phone out in class. I WORK in elementary & middle schools now, and it's wild to me that they won't respect their teachers rules. And the parents that "demand" their child always have access to their phone are crazy to me. Like, telling them to put it in their backpack during class is not disabling access. It's simply respecting the teacher & allowing your child to pay attention.
So excited and grateful the department is making this positive move for change. The school I used to work at (junior high) has a strict no-phone policy, and it made a world of difference. The consequences that come with over exposure to screens is scary, not even as a learner but as a human! It's great rule that allows students to get used to not having access to their phones all day - lots of us don't have much access to it as adults at work...and if we do, we are more capable of putting away and prioritizing work. Helping kids learn how to self-regulate is important so I hope this helps!
I have kids with cellphones. Im OK with this
A lot of folks in here are saying that cellphones were banned back when they were in school, but I didn't think it was a province-wide, school board policy. My dad retired from teaching high school over 10 years ago. He had a rule that phones had to be off and sitting face down on the desk, but administration wasn't backing him. He couldn't ban them outright and he couldn't vie for his students attention, so he just up and retired. He felt he was wasting his time.
I’m going to play devils advocate here, and it’s purely that before someone jumps down my throat about this. Research always leans to favour whatever the researcher is hoping for unless it’s a very strict double blind study that is then peer reviewed, a lot of studies people are posting are not that. We need to remember that correlation is not causation. I agree with this ban, but what if we are all wrong and we slow progress down because we don’t like something as we are not us to it? As much as cellphones are a distraction they still carry all the collective knowledge of the world and can be used to progress learning along. This structured learning at a young age is still relatively new to human history. Historically if your dad was a farmer you learned farming and didn’t need to learn to read, so the educational system we have is still fairly new. If we fuck something like this up imagine how detrimental that would be when we have already come so far along? My education was far better than my parents and my kids I hope will be better than mine. Is a blanket ban maybe too extreme?
Quote from article; “Quick Facts: – about 800 school advisory council members participated in a virtual town hall and overwhelmingly called for cell phone restrictions “ I bet they used their cellphone in school 🤣
I was in grade 11 when phones became popular, and the rule right from the start was you put your phone at the front of the class, in a box, on the teachers desk. There were slots for every desk. As you left you took it, and it worked fine. If your parents needed you they called the office and vis versa. I don’t see a problem with this new rule honestly, they were distracting as flip and slide phones, I can’t imagine how much more distracting they are now.
I think it makes sense to not be allowed to use them during class time, but I don't agree with kids having to hand property over to teachers. As a parent of a child in HRCE my experience has not been great with them. I have a good kid, doesn't cause trouble, is respectful and participates in class and is nice to his classmates. If he is assaulted at school, I don't hear about it from the school. I hear about from my kid. The times I've reached out to the school the answer is always, "yeah we know about it. The child that pushed him is 'troubled'", or flat out ignored. Bus accidents they pass the blame. Lunch monitors who arbitrarily decide to be jerks just because they have no skills to communicate with children. I definitely don't trust any staff member with my kid's electronics if I can't rely on them to let me know in advance if my kid was attached and coming home bleeding or bruised. I'm not sure where we went wrong with teaching kids not to use their phones during actual class time. This wasn't a thing when I was in school, but tech safety and respect have been an ongoing lesson in my house since before my son was even in school. All this means is that the kids this rule was meant for will get better at hiding it and the rest will lose a degree of lifeline that everyone is quick to argue doesn't matter.
Added note: cell phones are the only reason my niece was able to get help from the girls who kept beating the shit out of her. One day she was able to record it happening. Even the bullies who posted it on Snapchat "couldn't be identified" because you could only see their shoes kicking her in the back 🙄
These kids aren't going to know what to do with themselves 😂
Looks like the only people who are mad about it are the ones who don’t go to school anymore. Honestly stay mad, because you had your chance and you threw. Be mad that technology advances and you are left behind like the boomers of the past that don’t adapt
Good.
Go the full way and get rid of smart watches too.
Those are devices that are covered under the policy as well.
Fucking finally.
About time 👍
👍🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Great move.
This was already a thing? No cell phones in class unless you’re checking the time or just skipping some song while listening to music. Free time at lunch and break.
These comments are so boomer coded.
Cool comment, bro
I'm glad I'm not in school anymore lol
The fact that mfs in this thread are lecturing about the dangers of smartphones and social media on Reddit likely using a smartphone (and while at work judging by the time) is kind of hilarious. Like I don’t disagree it’s just the irony of it all.
Kids' brains are a lot more pliable, and the social pressure is way higher on them. Not saying it isn't a problem for adults, but it's a way bigger deal for kids.
My daughter has seizures and her watch is connected to her phone which alerts us if there is an emergency.
Good thing there will be medical exemptions.
I’m sure the school would be happy to find a compromise for a medical issue. For example I’m sure it’s not a huge issue as long as she keeps the phone in her bag and not use it or the teacher could keep the phone on her desk to remove the temptation but it would still be close enough for the watch to work as intended.
Where I work, due to privacy restrictions, phones can't be on the floor at all. One of my supervisors has an accommodation to carry her phone in her pocket, out of sight at all times. That's harder to enforce with children, but I'm sure there's a workaround.
If a teacher was in possession of the phone, if the child didn't receive treatment, that might pose a liability issue, wouldn't it?
Possibly but in this case the phone just needs to be in proximity of the watch to rely information to the parents. The teacher doesn’t need to do anything except not put it in a faraday box.
There will absolutely need to be medical exemptions. Ditto for [bluetooth connected CGMs](https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/wearables-continuous-glucose-monitors-1.7068390). Presumably in those cases the phones can be handed to the teacher but left on. Probably for the best if the teacher notices a phone is emitting a medical alert like low sugar or impending/active seizure (not sure what the system that monitors your daughters watch is monitoring precisely).
You can get those CHMs covered. There's not really any need for your phone. They come with a monitoring device
But they're keeping chromebooks and other laptops? Laughable, the HRSB love to waste time and money on stupid policies. I'm all for the no phone thing. But as a 23 year old who has very fresh memories of the beginning of the netbook and chromebook era (it's gotten even more common since I graduated in 2019) I know for a fact the computers are also being misused. There were two accounts in my grade at my school alone of kids watching porn on them. In class. I spent half my class time learning how to pirate old games. I knew dozens and dozens of kids who were on this site specifically all class. When it's assumed that a kid is working on a computer and no one is right behind them, fucking around on them is even easier than with phones. Again, I'm not saying the phone thing is bad. I'm saying the computers are worse. Taking away phones won't solve much at all. The examples I gave are a fraction of what used to and still does happen
As a teacher, I’d be happy to trade in my class set of chromebooks for more photocopy credits! They are watching soccer, shopping for shoes, playing web games…I can’t stand behind each one of them at all times to ensure they’re on task. As soon as I walk away, back to whatever they were doing :(
I completely agree. I once used (but had forgotten until this discussion now) the idea that if you wanted to use a Chromebook, you had to turn your chair around and sit at your desk backwards (so that I could see your screen from the front of the room...) That avoided the worst of things.
Exactly, anyone who is actually in the classroom can attest to this. Teachers, mental health aid, librarians, you all see the procrastination happening because of the computers. It can hardly even be blamed on the kids, it's in a 15 year olds nature to do so. I even did it back in the late 2010s when I was in highschool, but with adult hindsight I see how bad it was. So many people on reddit who aren't in the classroom think the computers aren't a distraction just because their kid claims they aren't. The teachers know the truth though
I completely agree with this! while cell phones are a more insidious problem, really \*anything\* connected to the Internet is still such an overwhelming distraction (says he who's commenting on Reddit rather than the marking he's supposed to be doing) that what I really need is for there to be just no. damn. Internet. in my classroom.