Disconnected

 It makes sense that the Los Angeles School Board would wait until school was out for most of their students and staff when they decided to go ahead with a ban on student use of cell phones during the school day. This ban which will take effect by the spring 2025 semester, and goes beyond the school district’s existing policy, which bans students from using cell phones during class instruction and limits social media use at school to “educational purposes.” The vote was five to two in favor of eliminating all student cell phone use during the school day. 

Wouldn't I have liked to see the text threads on that one. 

Los Angeles is not the only school district to take such a stand. It is most certainly the largest. I have made a habit out of complaining about this issue, primarily from the standpoint of how ridiculous it is that we as educators are competing with Snapchat. In the district where I work, the minimally stated policy on cell phones is that they should be "out of sight" during the school day. This creates a bit of cat and mouse for those of us with the will to try and monitor such activity, which is exacerbated by a number of adults who have simply given up trying to enforce it. 

While we are checking the text that just came in from the principal. 

But that's different. Because we're grown ups. 

In spite of that soupcon of hypocrisy, my mind reels at the reasoning behind a first grader carrying around her own personal cellular device. Locked, loaded, and ready to text. Or play. Or take video in the bathroom.  Because those things happened. In first grade. Fourth and fifth grade boys and girls seem to flaunt the use of their phones during the day. Daring us to tell them to put them away. Turn them off. 

Leave them at home. 

But what about emergencies? How will those kids be able to reach out to their parents in the event of some sort of crisis? We have been spoon fed those anguished calls between children and their moms and dads during school shootings. Did we really want to be the ones keeping those moments of contact from happening?

Well, let's remember that those incidents are the tiniest percentage of all cell phone use by students on school grounds. The ones who flaunt convention still further by wearing their ear buds as they walk down the hall, sending the message that whatever we have to say to them will have to wait while they take this call or finish this video. The sounds and images coming from those devices for many young people have taken precedence over the people standing directly in front of them. It's no wonder that the U.S. Surgeon General recently announced, "We are living in the middle of a youth mental health crisis, and I have said publicly that this is the defining public health challenge of our time. I firmly believe that. And social media has emerged as an important contributor to that youth mental health crisis, so making social media safer for our kids -- warning kids and parents about the harms associated with social media -- is urgent." 

So kids what we're saying is wait until you get home to turn on your cell phones. Then you can ignore your parents.