Whenever I write about the ill-effects of smartphones on teenagers, critics slam me, accusing me of promoting a moral panic.
This is foolish.
I’m not here to debate whether phones have contributed to anxiety, depression or low self-esteem in minors. There are a lot of experts studying this, and they’re working on it. Too many conflicting results,
but I A.M. I’m here to tell you that if you’re parenting a young teen, you need to know that worrying about smartphones and social media is not some irrational, “Reefer Madness”-style reaction to change.
This is as obvious as the nose on the faces of our children – who, by the way, are constantly immersed in their phones. Tell me a parent who doesn’t regularly fight with their child to put their smartphone away – at the dinner table, with friends, in the car, on the sidewalk, at the beach, at the mall, on their bicycles- And I will find you a parent who is deployed, separated, or dead. Let’s be honest: our kids are addicted to drugs,
It’s much harder to control our children’s smartphone use outside of school, but there’s no reason we can’t control their smartphone use inside. during In fact, teachers around the world are adopting this approach.
Some schools use lockers to hold phones; other schools use pouches that stay locked until they are tapped with a magnetic device mounted on the school door.
In a recent article published in the Times, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education said, Nick Melvoin calls for ban On smartphones in LA’s public schools.
“Prohibiting phone use in class improves academic performance, with increases in test scores comparable to the gains from adding an hour to the school week,” they wrote. They added that in Spain, schools that banned smartphones saw increases in student test scores as well as a “significant drop in cyberbullying.”
Closer to home, some Los Angeles public schools have already implemented phone bans, Melvoin noted. “School principals in LAUSD who have implemented phone-free school day policies report fewer fights, increased student engagement, and an overall more positive campus atmosphere,” he wrote.
Melvoin’s proposal to direct district employees to ban phones passed by the board on Tuesday,
Fortunately, the calls to ban smartphones in schools are growing louder.
Last month, the California Assembly passed a bill The bill would ban the use of smartphones by students in public schools. The bill is now being considered in the state Senate.
On Monday, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said that… He said he would ask the Congress To make warning labels mandatory on social media apps.
“Social media platforms need a surgeon general’s warning label stating that social media is linked to significant mental health harms for teens,” he wrote in the New York Times. “A warning label would regularly remind parents and teens that social media has not been proven safe,” he wrote.
Smartphones have been a cause of tension in my house for years. When my niece came to live with me in 2019 at the age of 8, she constantly talked about wanting a phone. Later, we signed an agreement. “Wait till the 8th” I had promised him I wouldn’t get him an iPhone until he finished middle school, but he asked me for one even earlier because most of his friends already had one. I was determined to keep my word, and so I did.
However, she was determined. In seventh grade, she wrote a 10-point manifesto, “Why I Should Get an iPhone.”
She was hardly device-deprived. She had a Gaby phone, which looks like an iPhone but can only be used to make phone calls, texts, and send and receive photos. It’s not internet-equipped, so it has no apps or social media. But she Did She owns an iPad and has access to her favorite social media platform Snapchat and the game app Roblox to play with friends.
She was very clever in organizing her argument for the smart phone, she started with the logic and then talked about the emotional issues.
“No. 1) Scanning QR codes: I need to do this for the rest of my life because people don’t want to make menus on paper or print things out anymore.”
I noticed that her middle school science fair included QR codes for information about experiments. Some school announcements also included QR codes. If she couldn’t scan them, would she miss out on important information?
“Number 2) Listen to music: I chose this because I have to record things on my phone in order to listen to music. Also, if you’re going to ask what about your iPad, I can’t take my iPad on my way home from school.”
And then, clever girl, she played the fear card:
“No. 5) FaceTime: On my phone, I can only make audio calls. I want FaceTime in case I need to tell someone where I am in an emergency.”
“No. 7) Seeing things: If I’m ever walking home or somewhere alone, I want to see where I am. Or how to get out of wherever I am.”
Of course, this is all true.
But one of the most beautiful things about a smartphone is that it … “Find My” function. To use My Through the smartphone, I can always see where he is, or at least where his phone is.
If it is locked away securely during school hours, even better.
