Chapter 8. Turn it off

Chapter 8. Turn it off

    «Turn it off», «Hand it in.», «We're in class.», «Please, pay attention»: these are phrases everyone who has been in a classroom environment in the past few decades has spoken, heard, or been told. It's obvious that, since the introduction of cell phones and other digital devices, society has never been the same, and it's safe to say that there's no going back.

    Regardless of numerous changes and the digitalization of individuals, many people express concerns with students' usage of phones in school, with some proposing to exclude them from classrooms, and others to abolish their use in schools entirely. The reasoning behind this presupposes that, by having access to their digital gadgets, kids and teens wouldn't develop important social and motor skills, isolating themselves and distancing themselves from the once-usual kid activities.

    This very relevant topic was raised in one of our English Methodologies sessions. As aspiring teachers, it's extremely relevant that we get opportunities to discuss and get a glimpse of a spectrum of opinions regarding current matters like this one. Listening and learning about the different ideas each person added to the conversation was intriguing and enriching.

    Some schools have gone through with this measure, by banning phones from schools or restricting them to specific moments only, and some of them have gotten positive results from this, stating that "culturally (...) the move has been transformative, often in small but cumulatively meaningful ways," (Root, 2024) as people socialize and are more attentive to the real environment around them than before.

   As for my view regarding this, there might be better ideas than removing phones from schools. In fact, I disagree that phones are terrible gadgets that students must be kept from, not to get tempted or distracted. While many kids, unfortunately, depend on their phones and don't find interest in playing and socializing physically with others, the solution should not be to ban their usage entirely. Negating the existence and impact of phones is negating human progress. So, the desire to apply this measure can be seen as a response to the fear of evolution, which is understandable. However, instead of banning them, it would be more impactful to educate people on the benefits that can sprout from good usage of these gadgets and teach them how to balance traditional methods and technologies in classrooms. Nowadays, resources such as endless digital apps and websites are a great addition to lessons, and can deeply motivate and help students learn faster and more amusingly.

    According to Bogatz (2015), "(...) it is important that we come to a realization that students’ phones are not going away. The best thing we can do is embrace and utilize these powerful and versatile tools when we are working with our students: for research, for photography, for artmaking, and for publishing work." Thus, shouldn't these be seen as wonderful chances to implement and make the most of where evolution has been leading humanity? In my opinion, it isn't about preventing students from getting tempted by their phones during a boring class; it's about making them interested and teaching them to tell apart moments in the class when they can use their phones to learn, and instances when they aren't using them – and that's the mentality I aim to achieve in my future classes.

References:

• Root, T. (2024, January 17). What happens when a school bans smartphones? A complete transformation. The Guardian.
  https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/17/cellphone-smartphone-bans-schools
• Bogatz, T. (2015, August 18). 4 Ways to Embrace Cell Phone Use in the Classroom. The Art of Education University. https://theartofeducation.edu/2015/08/4-ways-to-embrace-cell-phone-use-in-the-classroom/