Hanging From A Thread

 It's not just my school. Apparently there are a lot of schools across this great land of ours that are struggling with the ridiculously pervasive use of cell phones. 

As a point of departure, let me begin by saying that my own cell phone use at school has become much more of a conditional thing. There was a time when I first started carrying a cell phone at school that I rarely had it turned on. It was primarily used as a prop for those moments on the playground when I needed to threaten a student with a phone call home. It was only a matter of time before tech savvy little eyes noticed that I wasn't really doing anything but holding the phone next to my head and monologuing. Eventually, this awareness generated the necessity for my wife to take calls from me at odd moments throughout the day, with her playing the part of the shocked and disappointed parent of the moment. She will express just the right sentiments and follow my lead for a moment or two before I hang up and let the student know how mom was very upset, but hoped that another chance would help them get their act together. I can still get away with this one most of the time, unless the kid in question wants to talk to their caregiver. Or notice that the number on the screen doesn't match the one they have so dutifully memorized. 

Then there is the steady stream of texts that beg for my attention throughout the school day. Some of them are important, verging on urgent. Then there are the ones that show up because they don't want to take the time for something as formal as an email. Where do we keep the extra HEPA filters? Professional Development will be held in room seven this afternoon instead of room three. These texts also replace the intercom announcements that used to break up a quiet morning, asking for my location. Or that of our principal. Or those pesky HEPA filters. 

So, with all this smart phone interaction taking place with adults on campus, it sometimes feels a little hypocritical of us all to be so insistent on students keeping their devices powered down and put away. Except for this: The Pandora's Box that is your basic cell phone today is far and away more tempting and distracting than any paper airplane or Pokemon card. Much in the same way that my own teaching of technology has evolved from a time when I had to spend days or weeks at a time training students about how to point and click a mouse to generation of evolved end users I meet in my classroom these days, most kids have a relationship with a smart phone these days. It may not be their own, but their use and abuse is something they are not shy about sharing. By third grade, many of our students already carry their own device, usually with the limp reminder from home to only use it when they need it. Which for a ten year old could be as long as the battery hold out. There is a world of YouTube and Instagram and Roblox with which they can interact. And their own text threads that are far more interesting than anything in their Language Arts book. Like for discussions of HEPA filters, for instance. 

But the real force behind all this cell phone use is the one we don't talk about much. It's that moment when the gunfire erupts. When mom can't wait to hear from the school. When her kids are barricaded in their classrooms and they want to know they are safe. Alive. It is in these moments when the landlines, located in every room of the school, are completely inadequate. It is this fear that keeps excusing the persistent casual use of cellular devices for any use other than emergencies. Turns out it's not HEPA filters that were the most important thing after all. 

That's what we keep telling ourselves, though. It's easier.