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From burner phones to decks of cards: NYC teens adjusting to the smartphone ban

(gothamist.com)
279 points geox | 12 comments | 11 Sep 25 13:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.749s | source | bottom
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trentnix ◴[11 Sep 25 14:08 UTC] No.45211888[source]▶
Texas banned phones in schools as well. A local school administrator told me “in the high school, the lunch room is now loud with talking and laughter!”

There are still parents that complain. Turns out they are as addicted to texting with their kids all day as their kids are addicted to the same.

Regardless, it’s great to see that the ban has seemingly nudged things in a healthier direction. Its a failure of leadership that schools needed a statewide ban to make such an obviously positive change.

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softwaredoug ◴[11 Sep 25 14:11 UTC] No.45211928[source]▶
Phones might be as much a symptom as a cause

The related issue is parents are overly protective of teens and don't give them enough independence. You see this in a lot of different ways from parents wanting to text their kids, to only letting kids do highly managed structured activities, to treating teens as their best friends, to helicopter parenting protecting kids from all adversity, etc etc

And a similar thing happens not just with parents, but society, there are not a lot of places teens can just hang out. A lot of fun things teens would do increasingly ban minors.

If you want teens off devices, you need to give them alternatives

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soupfordummies ◴[11 Sep 25 14:32 UTC] No.45212177[source]▶
There's also the symptom that almost our entire society is addicted to staring at their phones for at least 4 hours a day. Go literally ANYWHERE and just look at the people around you if you don't think so.
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1. rkomorn ◴[11 Sep 25 14:38 UTC] No.45212230[source]▶
Yeah. As someone who spends way too much time on their phone... I'm pretty sure that I have access to all kinds of alternatives, and that I have the agency necessary to getting off my phone.

I'm pretty sure there's an awful lot more to it.

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2. teekert ◴[11 Sep 25 14:41 UTC] No.45212257[source]▶
For sure, and you at least acknowledge it. As do I, I'm ashamed of my screen time reports. I feel weak.
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3. rkomorn ◴[11 Sep 25 14:43 UTC] No.45212281[source]▶
At some point I started spending more time on my computer to reduce my phone screen time.

And the worst part is that that made sense to me for a few days.

Big screen = professional tech person. Small screen = phone addicted loser.

HN tabs open on both.

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4. teekert ◴[11 Sep 25 15:15 UTC] No.45212633{3}[source]▶
I think it is the same as with food, we just have to not get tempted. It probably would take something as radical as getting a dumbphone, DNS blocking additive sites, ditching the toilet-scroller. I'm on a website before I realize it.
5. throw0101d ◴[11 Sep 25 18:31 UTC] No.45214662[source]▶
> As do I, I'm ashamed of my screen time reports. I feel weak.

While not everyone agrees with all the precepts/concepts, may be worth noting the first step:

> 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program

One of the reasons 'God' ("as we understood Him") is invoked because you are admitting that you do not have it with-in you to control things (anymore) and that you need 'something' external to help you clamp down on your behaviour.

6. em500 ◴[11 Sep 25 18:51 UTC] No.45214860{3}[source]▶
The addictive substance is the network,not the phone. Nobody gets addicted to any phone disconnected from the internet. OTOH, as you experienced it's easy to spend just as much time on the laptop or desktop when that has a persistent internet connection.
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7. lrvick ◴[11 Sep 25 21:44 UTC] No.45216421[source]▶
Literally lock it in a safe for a month and see if after you recalibrate, if you are happier. Not carried a phone in 5 years and one of the best choices I ever made. Nothing you want to do in life requires you owning a phone if you are resourceful.
8. lrvick ◴[11 Sep 25 21:46 UTC] No.45216440{4}[source]▶
First thing I did to beat my addiction was keep my phone in airplane mode at all times, and just rely on wifi. After porting my number to a voip provider, i just canceled my cell phone subscription and then the device was no longer a phone, but a wifi tablet. a boring tool i could easily leave at home most of the time until I never took it with me again.
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9. majormajor ◴[12 Sep 25 01:52 UTC] No.45217902{3}[source]▶
Computers still have a lot of pre-24/7-internet applications and patterns compared to phones. You can get all the brain-killing stuff on them, but you also have more options for doing interesting stuff.

(Most HN use arguing with strangers is not that. Clearly I'm guilty too.)

Ironically for the "you'll rot your brain" panic of the eighties and nineties, a lot of video games are similarly better. Invest 60 hours into a complicated game and you've worked your brain out MASSIVELY more than 60 hours scrolling or watching tiktok.

Hell, at this point making it through a pre-2000s TV show or movie can be an attention-span challenge. Where's the constant payoff every 30 seconds like with memes??

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10. rkomorn ◴[12 Sep 25 05:43 UTC] No.45218960{4}[source]▶
May I introduce you to Factorio or Satisfactory, for example? :D

But yes, I agree. A regular computer offers more "productive" options than a phone. It's just that in my case, I'm an alt-tab away from going back to brain rot, and I am very good at hitting alt-tab.

11. rkomorn ◴[12 Sep 25 05:46 UTC] No.45218983{5}[source]▶
I often leave my phone in a different room, and that's pretty effective, too.

I've started leaving my phone at home when my wife and I go places together.

It's not a problem without solutions, of course. It just takes an amount of discipline that feels unreasonably burdensome to me (as in "ugh why is this so hard?!").

12. adolph ◴[12 Sep 25 16:43 UTC] No.45224004{4}[source]▶
> Nobody gets addicted to any phone disconnected from the internet.

I'm not certain about that. I remember spending enough breakout time on my iPod that I had to replace the battery.