Left To Our Own Devices

My first day teaching in the 90s at one of the roughest high schools in Brooklyn was spent as a sub for a Physics teacher who was absent because he had been stabbed in the hand trying to take away a student’s Walkman. So the question of devices in schools is not new to me. But it’s become a much more interesting issue. On one hand, the tech alarmists that blame every ill on phones tend to overdo it. On the other hand, we all know our phone addictions have some heavily negative impacts on our lives. And as a parent, it’s hard not to feel a little guilty about the tech everywhere world we’ve created for our children—especially when your daughter regularly blames you for her phone addiction (she’s got a point, and besides, a little finger-pointing beats a stab in the hand). Technology is here to stay and its role in our lives is only going to increase. But are there times when we can all admit it would be better to put our phones down (or, more likely, seal them into an individual gray pouch made of synthetic rubber)? Nowhere is that question more considered than in our schools, which is why it’s so interesting to see what happens when one tries to limit phone usage. WaPo (Gift Article): How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones. I can’t wait to discuss this article with my daughter. Better yet, I’ll text it to her.