The ban needs to be for the school day not just classroom instruction time. This can't happen soon enough. But good luck with our current sense of entitled parenting and the notion that we together can make a correct decision. Jonathan Haidt. does not demand this, he suggests and convincingly so. I saw him interviewed and I am looking forward to reading the book. However I fear that you story today and this issue will fall on deaf ears, I've called and e-mailed our superintendent and I was has politely told not a chance in hell that the parents (or a certain sub-set of parents) would go ballistic. I was also of the opinion that everyone having the collect knowledge of humanity in the palm of one's hand would be a good thing, silly me.
sorry about that, I do agree with your article, but the times find me somewhat pessimistic about our collective well being, and how we as a society are conducting our affairs...
It’s the Parents. Kids like dogs take on the disfunction of the parents. True kids may display mental ills, etc. But this may be for the haves not the have nots. Is it a blessing that there is very limited cell service in the Dacks? Take away the service not the cells.
We've always had a rule-no phones at the dinner table. I saw a great idea from a teacher the other day. She hangs a closet shoe holder with pockets and as the kids come into class, they put their phones in one of the pouches and picks it up on their way out of class. Doesn't solve all of the problems but a nice start. As for the deep fakes, it is going to be a real challenge. Scary stuff.
Just one detail about cell phones in class rooms. For some it is now a matter of health...eg., with Type 1 diabetes there is usually a parental phone connection to watch what is happening with a child's blood sugar through a connection to their insulin pump and or continuous glucose monitor, 24/7. Even if cell phone use for strictly health purposes is allowed under the cell phone ban proposal, it can quickly lead to problems for that child ---from other children as well as other parents. Being different comes in so many forms these days...we can't just let each other alone to live our lives. I'm afraid interference/bullying is the game of the day.
It breaks my heart to see families at a restaurant sitting and all of them on cellphones. Soon our vocal cords will atrophy and our index fingers and thumbs will begin to grow. Cells are great but need to be restricted by the parent. Tell those kids to get outside and play!! Before it’s too late
Another topic: your on-target reference to Trial(s) of the century, including the racially-charged trial of O.J. Simpson. It has always intrigued me that two of the last century’s first “trials of the century” had North Country connections. One was the Chester Gillette trial for his 1906 murder of Grace Brown, using a tennis racquet of all things to push the non swimmer off their boat on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. Gillette had been long involved with the fellow working class Brown but lost interest when he became enamored of a wealthy socialite. The case became famous with the thinly veiled classic novel, American Tragedy by Dreiser, and the movie version, A Place in the Sun, with Elizabeth Taylor. Gillette was executed. The other case, more celebrated immediately, and later discussed in Doctorow’s Ragtime, involved the multimillionaire but criminally insane Harry K. Thaw’s 2006 murder of architect Stanford White on the Madison Square Garden rooftop, all over the then famous Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. Thaw wound up serving jail and rehab time over the years, but mainly lived a great life, thanks to many legal and other payoffs that kept him free. The North Country connection, 40 years after he got off for “temporary insanity” at the first trial was that he bought and partied in a huge Bolton Road mansion for a number of years.
Speaking as someone who works in a school, cell phones should absolutely be banned during the school day, ballistic parents or no. Let the superintendent take the heat, that’s why they get paid the big bucks!
People often can’t believe this, but I have never had a cellphone of any kind, let alone a smartphone. I have an iPad at home, to check email, read the news, (and participate in this forum!), but I don’t want a cell phone, plain and simple. The only time since they were invented that I actually could have used one was last year. I was on my way to work when a truck ran a stoplight and hit my car. Neither of us was hurt, but my car was not driveable. The other driver did stop, then said he had to go call his boss, and got back into his truck and drove away, leaving me standing in the middle of the main intersection in Salem at 6:45 am, wondering what to do. Should I walk up to Stewarts a few blocks away? Or up to the school, also a few blocks away? As luck would have it, a nice lady had parked outside the library to use the wi-fi who not only let me use her phone to call 911, but had witnessed the accident and was able to back me up that the other driver was at fault. If she hadn't been there, I would have had a lot more trouble. But if I had had my own phone and called the police on it myself, I wouldn’t have known she was there, and she may or may not have volunteered to come over and talk to the cops and get involved, so maybe even in this instance it worked out for the best NOT to have one!
I'm 64and have come to realize I'm addicted to my phone. Swore it would never happen to me but when my mom got very ill the phone was with me 24/7 and always on.
Trying to cut down screen time - especially on social media.
Easy to get sucked into losing an hour of time wandering on it.
I think life was better before we were always *available *. It causes stress and anxiety.
You are not alone and the first step is to admit you have a problem. I find myself constantly reaching for my phone while watching television even though I am not expecting any type of message or email. I'm addicted, too. You are not alone.
I tried to reply and it posted twice, so I tried to delete one and they both disappeared…🙄
See how technologically challenged I am? Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was that availability is why I didn’t want one in the first place! My friend got one early on because she worked at night and had to drive home over a Vermont Mountain. I was out shopping with her one day and it kept ringing. It was her teenagers: “Mom, Ricky’s being mean to me.” “Mom, what can we have for snack?” I saw which way the wind was blowing…and it hasn’t improved, has it?
My childhood in the 1950’s was steeped with overwrought parental concern that watching B&W TV could “rot” a child’s mind. TV of that era was considered a vast wasteland. ( looking back at re-runs from that era….it probably was). But did TV of that era automatically create a generation of mindless, automaton adults? ( Some might say… on that question the jury is still undecided) .
I think cell phones, laptops and similar forms of electronic connectivity have their place in our society . Present circumstances however indicate that if parents are not imposing limitations and “ rules” then unfortunately it’s something that the government will handle…. and that’s not a welcome thought when legislators must intervene when good parenting is lacking.
The ban needs to be for the school day not just classroom instruction time. This can't happen soon enough. But good luck with our current sense of entitled parenting and the notion that we together can make a correct decision. Jonathan Haidt. does not demand this, he suggests and convincingly so. I saw him interviewed and I am looking forward to reading the book. However I fear that you story today and this issue will fall on deaf ears, I've called and e-mailed our superintendent and I was has politely told not a chance in hell that the parents (or a certain sub-set of parents) would go ballistic. I was also of the opinion that everyone having the collect knowledge of humanity in the palm of one's hand would be a good thing, silly me.
Well, that reaction is disappointing.
sorry about that, I do agree with your article, but the times find me somewhat pessimistic about our collective well being, and how we as a society are conducting our affairs...
It is OK. I often feel the same way.
It’s the Parents. Kids like dogs take on the disfunction of the parents. True kids may display mental ills, etc. But this may be for the haves not the have nots. Is it a blessing that there is very limited cell service in the Dacks? Take away the service not the cells.
We've always had a rule-no phones at the dinner table. I saw a great idea from a teacher the other day. She hangs a closet shoe holder with pockets and as the kids come into class, they put their phones in one of the pouches and picks it up on their way out of class. Doesn't solve all of the problems but a nice start. As for the deep fakes, it is going to be a real challenge. Scary stuff.
Just one detail about cell phones in class rooms. For some it is now a matter of health...eg., with Type 1 diabetes there is usually a parental phone connection to watch what is happening with a child's blood sugar through a connection to their insulin pump and or continuous glucose monitor, 24/7. Even if cell phone use for strictly health purposes is allowed under the cell phone ban proposal, it can quickly lead to problems for that child ---from other children as well as other parents. Being different comes in so many forms these days...we can't just let each other alone to live our lives. I'm afraid interference/bullying is the game of the day.
The proposed ban is long overdue!
It breaks my heart to see families at a restaurant sitting and all of them on cellphones. Soon our vocal cords will atrophy and our index fingers and thumbs will begin to grow. Cells are great but need to be restricted by the parent. Tell those kids to get outside and play!! Before it’s too late
Another topic: your on-target reference to Trial(s) of the century, including the racially-charged trial of O.J. Simpson. It has always intrigued me that two of the last century’s first “trials of the century” had North Country connections. One was the Chester Gillette trial for his 1906 murder of Grace Brown, using a tennis racquet of all things to push the non swimmer off their boat on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks. Gillette had been long involved with the fellow working class Brown but lost interest when he became enamored of a wealthy socialite. The case became famous with the thinly veiled classic novel, American Tragedy by Dreiser, and the movie version, A Place in the Sun, with Elizabeth Taylor. Gillette was executed. The other case, more celebrated immediately, and later discussed in Doctorow’s Ragtime, involved the multimillionaire but criminally insane Harry K. Thaw’s 2006 murder of architect Stanford White on the Madison Square Garden rooftop, all over the then famous Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. Thaw wound up serving jail and rehab time over the years, but mainly lived a great life, thanks to many legal and other payoffs that kept him free. The North Country connection, 40 years after he got off for “temporary insanity” at the first trial was that he bought and partied in a huge Bolton Road mansion for a number of years.
-dave nathan
Bethesda, MD
Thanks for a couple stories I did not know about.
They need to do something in a timely manner and not talk it to death.
Speaking as someone who works in a school, cell phones should absolutely be banned during the school day, ballistic parents or no. Let the superintendent take the heat, that’s why they get paid the big bucks!
People often can’t believe this, but I have never had a cellphone of any kind, let alone a smartphone. I have an iPad at home, to check email, read the news, (and participate in this forum!), but I don’t want a cell phone, plain and simple. The only time since they were invented that I actually could have used one was last year. I was on my way to work when a truck ran a stoplight and hit my car. Neither of us was hurt, but my car was not driveable. The other driver did stop, then said he had to go call his boss, and got back into his truck and drove away, leaving me standing in the middle of the main intersection in Salem at 6:45 am, wondering what to do. Should I walk up to Stewarts a few blocks away? Or up to the school, also a few blocks away? As luck would have it, a nice lady had parked outside the library to use the wi-fi who not only let me use her phone to call 911, but had witnessed the accident and was able to back me up that the other driver was at fault. If she hadn't been there, I would have had a lot more trouble. But if I had had my own phone and called the police on it myself, I wouldn’t have known she was there, and she may or may not have volunteered to come over and talk to the cops and get involved, so maybe even in this instance it worked out for the best NOT to have one!
I agree! It’s worth a try.
I'm 64and have come to realize I'm addicted to my phone. Swore it would never happen to me but when my mom got very ill the phone was with me 24/7 and always on.
Trying to cut down screen time - especially on social media.
Easy to get sucked into losing an hour of time wandering on it.
I think life was better before we were always *available *. It causes stress and anxiety.
You are not alone and the first step is to admit you have a problem. I find myself constantly reaching for my phone while watching television even though I am not expecting any type of message or email. I'm addicted, too. You are not alone.
I tried to reply and it posted twice, so I tried to delete one and they both disappeared…🙄
See how technologically challenged I am? Anyway, what I wanted to tell you was that availability is why I didn’t want one in the first place! My friend got one early on because she worked at night and had to drive home over a Vermont Mountain. I was out shopping with her one day and it kept ringing. It was her teenagers: “Mom, Ricky’s being mean to me.” “Mom, what can we have for snack?” I saw which way the wind was blowing…and it hasn’t improved, has it?
My childhood in the 1950’s was steeped with overwrought parental concern that watching B&W TV could “rot” a child’s mind. TV of that era was considered a vast wasteland. ( looking back at re-runs from that era….it probably was). But did TV of that era automatically create a generation of mindless, automaton adults? ( Some might say… on that question the jury is still undecided) .
I think cell phones, laptops and similar forms of electronic connectivity have their place in our society . Present circumstances however indicate that if parents are not imposing limitations and “ rules” then unfortunately it’s something that the government will handle…. and that’s not a welcome thought when legislators must intervene when good parenting is lacking.