Phone bans sweep U.S. schools despite skepticism

I really dislike our dependency (my own too) on our phones. I can't help but feel that it makes us a bit weaker, despite potential bumps in productivity and time saving.

I have noticed even as an adult, it feels like my ability to learn and retain info has waned because I can just look it up in an instant.

Gone are the days when the only way to settle an argument would be to go to the Library and look it up, so he/she with the most confidence tends to win.

Lets train our kids not to depend on pda.

Good. When I was teaching in US JHS and high schools, they had a ban on cellphones in class but kids would sneak them in, in their bags. There's absolutely no need for them in classes.

That malarky about kids wanting to call their parents during school is just an excuse to justify having access to their phones. No kids want to talk their parent while at school! Never while I was in school and never do I see it now. Don't make me laugh. They can call them after school's out if they want a ride or whatever.

School is for learning not phones this is simple to understand

I think this will do alot of good when I was at school and even secondary school I never used a mobile

"...alot [sic] of good..." Ha! Ha!

"The answer is not to just ban and put our heads in the sand," said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, which represents over 1,000 parent organizations in the United States.

We can educate kids about the risks of cell phones AND ban them at school at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive.

Banning cell phones in schools doesn't automatically make anyone guilty of "burying their heads in the sand."

Ms. Rodrigues is apparently the one with her head in the sand. She's the one who seems to be so glibly dismissing the clearly demonstrated negative effects of excessive phone use on kids.

She compared efforts to ban phones to "abstinence education," noting that failing to properly teach children about complicated issues such as sex has failed in the past.

Don't take the rest of my comment down as "off topic," moderators, because I'm responding here to a direct quote from the article -- which makes it "on topic" and thus fair game for a response:

Teenagers who don't have sex don't get pregnant, nor do they get STDs.

So it's not that abstinence education failed. It's idiotic to blame an approach for negative outcomes, when that approach is NOT implemented.

When it comes to avoiding pregnancy and STDs, abstinence works every time. It cannot NOT work. It's the ONLY foolproof way to avoid those two consequences.

Blaming abstinence ed for pregnancy or STDs is like blaming the helmet for your head injury sustained from a bicycle accident .. after you IGNORED educational efforts about the need to wear a helmet.

I would have thought that in a high risk area with a lot of vulnerable young people, phones would be mandatory.

US schools have a lot of shootings. Being able to broadcast warnings, advice and information and allow kids to speak to worried parents would see all kids being encouraged to carry phones at school.

GBR48Today 12:08 am JST

I would have thought that in a high risk area with a lot of vulnerable young people, phones would be mandatory.

US schools have a lot of shootings. Being able to broadcast warnings, advice and information and allow kids to speak to worried parents would see all kids being encouraged to carry phones at school.

That's not a real reason statistically and I suspect you know that.

A great move but it has to be strictly enforced with physical removal of phones for the day. I worry that it won't be good enough for my nephew when he goes through school.

She compared efforts to ban phones to "abstinence education," noting that failing to properly teach children about complicated issues such as sex has failed in the past.

Generally sex is not allowed in schools and during school hours.

"It's not effective, and frankly, it's dumb," Rodrigues told AFP. "What we need to do is equip our kids with the information, with the skills and the strategies they're going to need to navigate a digital future."

Even adults cannot use social media responsibly.