"I didn't charge it last night, because I'd rather have it dead if I have to give it up."
Second period. It was Tuesday, Election Day, but that's not what had all the students in a dither. It was the day they were going to give up their cell phones.
And they weren't happy about it.
Psychology. It's an elective class. And for a week each semester (it's a semester-long course), the teacher has them turn in their cell phones. I'm not sure what the rationale is, but I'm sure you'll agree that it's a very good idea.
They had plenty of warning. A letter goes home to the parents. And that night their homework assignment was to write two paragraphs detailing how not having their phones made them feel.
I don't usually get to witness these things. But, Mr. T had a student teacher, and the student teacher was entrusted with collecting the phones. The students put their names on their phones via sticky notes, and the student teacher locked the phones away (out of the view of the students, so they have no idea where the phones were stored).
"My girlfriend is going to think I'm cheating on her."
I questioned why the boy hadn't alerted the girlfriend to his imminent loss of phone. She goes to a different school, so they'll have no way of talking for a week. I'd have thought someone would want to let people know they'd be without phone in that case.
Other students wondered how they'd wake up in time for school. They use their phones for an alarm clock. Again, that's something I would have thought they'd plan for. But what do I know?
They whined the whole period. They were going to miss their music. (One girl planned on finding her old iPod. She wondered what music she had loaded on it.) They constantly asked the time. (There was a clock on the wall.)
The student teacher pulled out his phone just to mess with them.
By the time you read this, they'll have gotten their phones back, the week complete. I hope they learned something from this. Too bad I won't be there to find out.
But before we get all "these kids today" on them, it was Election Day. And, it turned out that two of them had voted before school. Considering that only a handful of students are currently 18, I was impressed.
Ooh, a whole week without their phones! That's a rough assignment, altho I'll admit I'd be lost without mine but mostly because I don't have a land line anymore.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz - surely you get a chance to ask about things from the teachers ... because presumably it's good interaction for the teacher, and you learn too for any similar future lessons - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThat is a good training for children in digital detox.
ReplyDeleteA colleague of mine in the organisation I worked earlier, kept his mobile phone away for one whole month.
There are people here who go on holidays, typically on weekends; with some of them leaving their mobiles back home; or if they do take, they keep away from them.
It's easier when you've spend chunks of your life without. Most of these kiddos haven't.
DeleteI don't think it's a good idea. Society has evolved to a point where people need to be reachable at all times. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but that's the way it is. Plus they use their phones for a lot of different things, and then they'd have to be without alarms or maybe even a computer for a week.
ReplyDeleteI hope the lesson they learn is not to take classes where teachers make you do things like this.
I sometimes still marvel at how different school is now from when I was a kid. I mean, a phone you could take to school?! How crazy would that have been back in the 80s? I suppose sending messages on whatsapp, or whatever, is the new note passing.
ReplyDeleteTexting. They just text. But yeah, high school me would have marveled at these devices.
DeleteI don't think as a parent I would like this assignment, LOL. Kept track of my kid via his cell phone. Not having it would have been hard for me to deal with :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Students are in the classroom where they are to learn. If they need to be reached at any time, it has to be for an emergency. Come on, people.
ReplyDeleteOh, the "emergencies" thing. If it's the type of emergency where they need to be released from school, the parent has to come to the school anyway. Why call them and freak them out before then?
DeleteThat's awesome that those students voted. I turned 18 in college and I remember voting for the presidential election via an absentee ballot.
ReplyDeleteOur family doesn't have smart phones, but since the high school teachers are having the kids record things on their phone (voice class), we are seriously considering getting one for our ninth grader. She is the only one in that class (or the whole school it seems) that doesn't have one yet.
Funny thing is that her district now has Chromebooks for every kid, but she doesn't even bother taking it to school since her teachers aren't using it. My younger daughter hates using it because it takes her forever to type in things.
Most classes have Chromebooks nowadays. It's great when a teacher wants them to write an essay or do some research.
DeleteIn this class, there were a couple students who did not turn in phones because they don't have one. Other students called them lucky, as they weren't giving up anything.
To be honest, when I was a kid I would have forgotten to let people know. On the other hand, my parents would not have let have a phone until I was 16 and maybe only a pay as you go phone that I would have to pay for which is what I believe in. Were they without their phone just for that hour or were they without their phone all week. If it was all week...hahahaaaaa. I love it! I would be the parent that would have an old rotary phone and tell them to call their friends on that phone and show them a record player. Hahahaaa...I would have so much fun.
ReplyDeleteThat actually is a good idea. However, some parents like their kids to have phones so they can keep track of them. And there were two students who did not have phones.
DeleteI recall my son loosing his phone I believe it was in physics or a related class. And it was on Friday when he came home he was in tithy...Told me to get right in car and go to school and fetch his phone..Well he got it back Monday.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
I don't think four of my five kids would survive. I wouldn't miss mine all that much. You are right though... you'd think they would have prepared for this.
ReplyDeleteYup. But, teens. Some just don't think ahead.
DeleteIt's nice to know some of them voted. Cool! Makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I heard something ominous about cell phone and Internet addiction causing a depression and anxiety epidemic. Allegedly, the big wigs in Silicon Valley won't let their children have the devices they create. That causality would help explain all the mysterious stress I read about from unhappy kids online. This makes me sad for them. Youth should be a time for carefree joy, at least as much as possible in this day and age. ~sigh~ More glad than ever that I never had kids. Take care, my dear.
Part of it could be due to social media apps. Girls post pics on Instagram and SnapChat and wait for likes. When they don't get them...
DeleteCell phones are addictive. I think even grown-ups would have trouble if someone took their phones away.
ReplyDeleteOh yea, for sure.
DeleteGood for those two voters! Makes me feel that all well be well.
ReplyDeleteGood for the voters!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd be very happy giving up my phone for a week, so I can't really criticize them for being unhappy about it.
It's a good experiment to show them how addicted they are. If they're twitching after a day or two, they know they need help.
DeleteI gave up all electronics (except my laptop which I could use to type, offline) for the entire month of January 2018. I spent 2 weeks preparing for such a radical shift. I was glad to leave my phone in a drawer, with all the apps deleted in case I was tempted. I checked it for calls twice a day. The toughest thing to skip was my nightly video game. It's how I unwind. Well, that and looking at mycology photos.
ReplyDeleteI have one of those games, too. It's nice to let the brain chill out somewhat.
DeleteI'd think the teacher's should have to give theirs up too for that. Mmhm.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't a thing I would do. My phone is my lifeline and no way I'm giving that up.
I could happily give up my phone for a week. I don't keep it with me all the time as it is (at home it sits on my desk and I only check it when I go into the office). My Barbarians don't have phones yet so they wouldn't care either.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine not planning for something like this. I'm a planner and I fear I always have been.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? They had plenty of warning.
Delete