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

(gothamist.com)
279 points geox | 2 comments | 11 Sep 25 13:39 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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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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1. mynameisash ◴[11 Sep 25 18:20 UTC] No.45214551[source]▶
> Its a failure of leadership that schools needed a statewide ban to make such an obviously positive change.

I assume you mean that it's a failure of the school's leadership? My kids' school has been applying more strict bans on phones. I wish they would just flat-out ban them -- no more phones in school, period. But even with their moderate ban, there are a lot of parents that push back because "what if there's an emergency and I need to contact my child?" That makes me think that it's probably just easier (to say nothing of broader-impact) for schools to appeal to state lawmakers: just do a statewide ban, then the school doesn't have to fight parents.

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2. estearum ◴[11 Sep 25 18:22 UTC] No.45214566[source]▶
I don't think you can expect schools to stand up to hordes of smartphone-addicted parents demanding no action on this.

State-level regulation provides IMO very necessary cover.