1y ago

A teachers union says it’s fed up with social media’s impact on students

www.nbcnews.com A teachers union says it’s fed up with social media’s impact on students

The American Federation of Teachers said in a report that social media apps have had a negative effect on classrooms.

The nation’s second-largest teachers union said Thursday it was losing patience with social media apps that it says are contributing to mental health problems and misbehavior in classrooms nationwide, draining time and money from teachers and school systems.

Technology @lemmy.world

A teachers union says it’s fed up with social media’s impact on students

www.nbcnews.com /tech/social-media/teachers-union-says-s-fed-social-medias-impact-students-rcna95376

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I don't get why kids are allowed to have phones in the school. Just install signal blockers. Parents can call the office if there is an emergency like it's 1995.
- Signal jammers are illegal. Certainly wouldn't be a good idea to install those in the US, where school shootings are common.
  Edit: Also, unrelated to the signal jamming thing you talked about:
  Phones are useful in case of a fight were to occur, which happen very often (at least in schools I went to). Video recordings are good to determine fault. School surveillance cameras are often cheap, blurry, unreliable, have many blind-spots, and also forbidden in classrooms (at least in the US). In addition, sometimes classrooms still use old textbooks that only have 1 class set, and are very heavy to carry, and they aren't available online, so in that case, kids can just take photos of the textbook and the school saves a lot of money from having to copy-print the textbooks, so maybe they just need to make 1 or 2 copies for the kids that don't have a phone. Phones are very useful, just needs reasonable rules. A complete ban is not necessary in my opinion.
  
  It wouldn't surprise me if places in the US found ways to make school shootings worse than they already are.
- In a country where kids drill for school shootings, not having cell phones so emergency calls can be made from anywhere should be a non-starter.
  
  You're aware that students aren't the only people in schools, right?
  
  Not sure how that matters. Teachers and other staff could have phones true, but what if a shooting happens in the bathroom? Or in the halls where there are no teachers? Or the teacher is killed first and all the kid's phones are locked up somewhere?
  But to be clear, I don't think that means kids should be using them during class. I can't remember where I saw this, but putting boxes on each desk where kids can put their phones that stay there until after class or an emergency is an option. Or just tell them to keep them in their pockets and discipline them if they use them during class.
  
  Have never heard a gunshot before? If you shoot even a dinky little .22 pistol in a school bathroom, half the fucking building is going to know it.
  
  I own multiple. Again, I don't see how that matters. In an environment where school shootings are common, taking away a way to reach emergency services at anytime, anywhere should be a non-starter.
  
  How many school shootings happen per day by you? It must be crazy there huh?
  
  You know what happened in Uvalde, right?
  
  I'm with you on this. How is having like 300+ more options available (depending on the school) to call the police really something that will help with school shootings specifically. Like if it happens a teacher would call.
  People are so paranoid about not having instant connections available at all times. It is not that needed. Especially with kids in school.
  Having everything at your fingertips is great, in theory. But for kids without the ability to regulate, it's as much a distraction than an advantage.
- Probably because of emergency services if I had to guess
- A lot of people don't realize this but signal Jammers are illegal. There was actually a professor who was put on administrative leave for using one, he was lucky that he didn't have to pay fines or that he wasn't sent to jail for it.
- The FCC will not allow that. Huge fines.
  
  Easy, they try to come in and collect fees, I’ll send straight to detention. Eventually all those FCC guys will be stuck in the mean teacher’s room next to band class. Problem solved!
  Gosh, I’m good at this
- Morbid but with the amount of school shootings that have happened the more people that can call 911 the better. The kids need the phones to possibly save their lives. Signal blockers are not the answer.
- I agree that they shouldn't be allowed to have phones during class. It would actually probably be best if the students had assigned classrooms, they stuck their phones in a teacher-controlled box at the beginning of the day, then the teachers move classrooms to teach each subject.
  Then the kids get their phones back during lunch and at the end of the day.
  
  Meh... Kids need to learn self control. Who's gonna hold their phones when they have a job, or during a funeral? Workplace don't want to be responsible for your phone, and they'll just fire you if you get caught using your phone during work hours. Also liability problems... what happens if the phones are damaged or missing? What if some creepy pedophile teacher injects spyware in the phones when the kids attention are focused on a test?
  If you can't leave you phone in a backpack for a few school hours, how do you deal with not being able to use your phone at a job which may have even more hours, and which your livelihood depends on?
  
  Depends where you work, everywhere I've ever worked in the last two decades haven't minded you using your phone providing you aren't spending all day staring at it.
  
  Even if you are allowed to use your phone, I'm pretty sure low-performance would get you fired from almost every job. The point still stands, kids need to learn self-control starting at a young age.
  
  I agree. Just have a designated box or place for the students to leave their phones in each classroom. They can grab them in an emergency or on their way to lunch.
  
  the only people that's stopping are the honest ones and those who only have access to one(or none) phone. It'll just add on the teachers already heavy load. I don't think it's such a great idea turning school into basic military training.
- We are starting to see them banned.
  Ontario bans phones in classroom during teaching times.

100 comments