WA readers say no cellphones in school is a good idea - The Seattle Times

A Cash Kart Edit site Customize New Edit Post SEOFocus keyphrase not set Howdy, admin Log OutSkip to content A Cash Kart WA readers say no cellphones in school is a good idea – The Seattle Times Earlier this year, Peninsula School District adopted a new cellphone policy that blocked social media on its network and restricted the use of mobile devices — including cellphones and smartwatches — to before school, during lunch and after school. Why? Because students seemed constantly distracted by the sounds and vibrations of chat notifications and the lure of looking up an answer or loading a video. So far, the policy has met with little resistance and positive outcomes, which surprised some school officials. We wanted to see what our readers thought about cellphones in schools and potential restrictions, so we asked for their feedback. The response was strong — more than 140 of you weighed in — and the verdict was overwhelming: Readers, many of whom identified themselves as teachers or parents, think cellphones have no place in the classroom. We got responses from Anacortes to Issaquah, Steilacoom to Seattle. (For the record, students did not weigh in. Maybe we should have asked them to text us?) Lake Washington School District’s Ronica Wilson, who has taught middle and high school for 21 years, said the “phone problem” is at an all-time high. “I work very hard to create engaging lessons, and there is a growing population of students who choose to disengage and be sucked into their phone,” Wilson said. “I have so many jobs to do in my classroom; I would love for this issue to be a moot point.” Gig Harbor mom Jess Svabenik, who talked to us on a Zoom call with three of her four boys, said that when the Peninsula policy was enacted, she sent “a heartfelt note” to the district, thanking them for “putting our children’s education first.” Her oldest son, Ash Anderson, got his first phone this year, right before his 18th birthday. “He will have a cellphone most likely for the rest of his life but got to have his first 18 years untethered,” Svabenik said. Her youngest, Roman Svabenik, is in kindergarten and said no one in his class has a phone. He doesn’t seem fazed by that fact. Seventh grade twins, Holling and Avery Svabenik, go to Goodman Middle School and say Peninsula’s new policy has made their classes feel less disrupted. “I think kids are getting more work done in class, and it’s also helpful for the teachers because more people are listening,” Avery said. In the United States, some 43% of tweens (ages 8 to 12) and up to 95% of teens (ages 13 to 18) have a smartphone, according to a 2023 study published by Common Sense Media and the University of Michigan. The study enrolled 203 11- to 17-year-olds and tracked their smartphone use for a week. Researchers found on a typical day, students received a median of 237 notifications, with about a quarter arriving during school hours. During school, almost all of the participants used their phones at least once, for a median of 43 minutes. While some states and countries have passed laws restricting or prohibiting the use of personal devices in schools, Washington’s Legislature has left it up for districts to decide. Seattle Public Schools, the state’s largest school district, does not have a phone use policy, though some of its schools and classrooms do. For the past few years, Michael Rice, a teacher at Seattle’s Ingraham High School, has instructed students to put their phones in a caddy hanging on the wall and stash their earbuds. At the start of class, Rice tells students: “While I teach [usually 30 minutes of a 55-minute period], I will have your undivided attention. Once I am done teaching and you have the assignment for the day, you can grab your phone. If you want to get better at Fortnite instead of doing my assignment, that is your decision. Just know that you have an assignment due tomorrow, and I do not accept late work.” Some Seattle readers noted the conflicting nature of Seattle Schools suing major social media companies for contributing to the youth mental health crisis but not banning the use of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat in its schools. One Seattle parent wants school administration to enforce mobile phone policies so teachers don’t have to. “It’s time to stop the epidemic of distraction and get back to providing structure around this so teachers can do their jobs and students can learn in the best possible environment,” the parent wrote. Holling Svabenik, the Goodman Middle School seventh grader, said before his school district’s new policy, he’d see a lot of students sitting at the back of the classroom quietly trying to use their phones underneath their desks. He said students could also benefit from using their phones less to communicate outside of school. “There would probably be less fights on social media, and people could get their problems solved and not fight so long with texting,” he said. All but a handful of reader responses favored some level of restriction of personal devices during the school day. Many said cellphones should be fully banned from schools. Others said exceptions and accommodations should be made for students who rely on their devices for learning, language interpretation or require medical apps to manage their health needs. Vashon Island School District school counselor Tara Vanselow said the district has an “off and away” policy and has had similar outcomes to Peninsula — that is, improved engagement and learning. “I believe there is a direct link between constant access to technology and the rise in social anxiety,” Vanselow said, nodding to a growing body of research on this topic. “We have forgotten how to interact and need to start exercising those muscles again.” Many teachers and parents said they struggle with getting children, particularly teens, to curb their screen time. They also said it’s the responsibility of adults to model good phone habits. Some said this means adults should limit their personal tech use in school, and parents need to pause on reaching out to their children during the school day with nonemergency issues. “I had a student two years ago who was using her phone in my class. I asked her to put it away. ‘But my mom is texting me!’ was the response,” wrote a teacher from Kamiak High School in Mukilteo. Some readers said students can reach families through the main office, classroom computers or landlines if needed. But Erin Sagadin, who has children in the Kennewick School District, believes cellphones “should absolutely be allowed in schools” to let students contact their families in the event of an emergency or school shooting. “There are so many other reasons why cellphones shouldn’t be banned, but the safety issue is at the top of my list as a parent,” Sagadin said. Renton parent Lorena Ortigoza would like to see more schools teach curriculum to help youth use technology in responsible, healthy ways. She also thinks schools should help researchers study the influences of cellphones, technology and social media on students so that better practices and policies can be developed. “Helping our young people tap into their natural state of curiosity can help develop real innovations and also get a better understanding of how society has changed,” Ortigoza said. The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times. source January 9, 2024 admin Uncategorized A Cash Kart Proudly powered by WordPress WA readers say no india WA readers say no Delhi WA readers say no Bengaluru WA readers say no Ahmedabad WA readers say no Hyderabad WA readers say no Chennai WA readers say no Kolkata WA readers say no Pune WA readers say no Jaipur WA readers say no Surat WA readers say no Lucknow WA readers say no Kanpur WA readers say no Nagpur WA readers say no Patna WA readers say no Indore WA readers say no Thane WA readers say no Bhopal WA readers say no Visakhapatnam WA readers say no Vadodara WA readers say no Firozabad WA readers say no Ludhiana WA readers say no Rajkot WA readers say no Agra WA readers say no Siliguri WA readers say no Nashik WA readers say no Faridabad WA readers say no Patiala WA readers say no Meerut WA readers say no Kalyan-Dombivali WA readers say no Vasai-Virar WA readers say no Varanasi WA readers say no Srinagar WA readers say no Dhanbad WA readers say no Jodhpur WA readers say no Amritsar WA readers say no Raipur WA readers say no Allahabad WA readers say no Coimbatore WA readers say no Jabalpur WA readers say no Gwalior WA readers say no Vijayawada WA readers say no Madurai WA readers say no Guwahati WA readers say no Chandigarh WA readers say no Hubli-Dharwad WA readers say no Amroha WA readers say no Moradabad WA readers say no Gurgaon WA readers say no Aligarh WA readers say no Solapur WA readers say no Ranchi WA readers say no Jalandhar WA readers say no Tiruchirappalli WA readers say no Bhubaneswar WA readers say no Salem WA readers say no Warangal WA readers say no Mira-Bhayandar WA readers say no Thiruvananthapuram WA readers say no Bhiwandi WA readers say no Saharanpur WA readers say no Guntur WA readers say no Amravati WA readers say no Bikaner WA readers say no Noida WA readers say no Jamshedpur WA readers say no Bhilai Nagar WA readers say no Cuttack WA readers say no Kochi WA readers say no Udaipur WA readers say no Bhavnagar WA readers say no Dehradun WA readers say no Asansol WA readers say no Nanded-Waghala WA readers say no Ajmer WA readers say no Jamnagar WA readers say no Ujjain WA readers say no Sangli WA readers say no Loni WA readers say no Jhansi WA readers say no Pondicherry WA readers say no Nellore WA readers say no Jammu WA readers say no Belagavi WA readers say no Raurkela WA readers say no Mangaluru WA readers say no Tirunelveli WA readers say no Malegaon WA readers say no Gaya WA readers say no Tiruppur WA readers say no Davanagere WA readers say no Kozhikode WA readers say no Akola WA readers say no Kurnool WA readers say no Bokaro Steel City WA readers say no Rajahmundry WA readers say no Ballari WA readers say no Agartala WA readers say no Bhagalpur WA readers say no Latur WA readers say no Dhule WA readers say no Korba WA readers say no Bhilwara WA readers say no Brahmapur WA readers say no Mysore WA readers say no Muzaffarpur WA readers say no Ahmednagar WA readers say no Kollam WA readers say no Raghunathganj WA readers say no Bilaspur WA readers say no Shahjahanpur WA readers say no Thrissur WA readers say no Alwar WA readers say no Kakinada WA readers say no Nizamabad WA readers say no Sagar WA readers say no Tumkur WA readers say no Hisar WA readers say no Rohtak WA readers say no Panipat WA readers say no Darbhanga WA readers say no Kharagpur WA readers say no Aizawl WA readers say no Ichalkaranji WA readers say no Tirupati WA readers say no Karnal WA readers say no Bathinda WA readers say no Rampur WA readers say no Shivamogga WA readers say no Ratlam WA readers say no Modinagar WA readers say no Durg WA readers say no Shillong WA readers say no Imphal WA readers say no Hapur WA readers say no Ranipet WA readers say no Anantapur WA readers say no Arrah WA readers say no Karimnagar WA readers say no Parbhani WA readers say no Etawah