Questionnaire #1

1. What’s the first thing they do in the morning? Check their phone? Boo…
2. Do they charge their devices during school? Boo…
3. Do they become agitated, even belligerent, if denied access to their devices? Boo…

Obviously, we’d all like our students to be moving away from these behaviors. But witnessing these could mean that we are witnessing addictive behavior.

To be clear, TECH ON does not give students the green light to…

1. check TikTok for funny videos,
2. snap candid pics of teachers for Instagram (or “Finsta” – still don’t get this),
3. text friends/parents, or
4. play Texas hold ’em on Pokerist, etc.

Teachers also witness another scary scenario. I have personally seen the vitriol of students asked to pay attention. This enmity is exhibited toward any authority figure who they believe have denied their perceived right to ignore instruction while they attention is affixed to their cell phones.

Sometimes, parents are part of the problem. Why they text their children during class escapes me.

Questionnaire #2

1. Do they set assignment reminders on their devices? Yay!
2. Do they use free native apps like Notes on their iPhone? Yay!
3. Do they use premium apps like Nozbe or Evernote? Yay! Yay!
4. Do they regularly use their devices to read books? Yay!

In my opinion, children probably shouldn’t be given a cell phone until they know how to earn money with it. Using productivity apps, budgeting apps, accounting apps, paper trading apps, etc. start with school provided teachers are aware of and using these. For example, learning from instructors who were forced to once read a book about investing is not the same as being taught by an instructor who actually invests. Kinetic execution is always better than ideation. Ideas are mental flatulence.

Why is device use seen as an addiction?

Author Simon Sinek relates that dopamine is the brain chemical that makes us feel good. This is the same chemical response elicited by the use of cocaine and alcohol.

Think about underage drug use… Like underage drinking, device use is often done in secret and hidden from authority figures. Like underage drinking, device use involves binging after denial. Like underage drinking, device use can increase criminal tendencies.

As Tanner Welton relates in his TED Talk, student check their device about every five minutes. They’re usually checking to see who liked an image they posted. The likes provide the dopamine hit.

What can schools do?

Naturally, we’d like to see our student embrace technology during school, but in the spirit that allowable use is intended… as a tool, not a toy. Really, all we can do is share new productivity apps and lead by example. But many teachers are as addicted to their iPhones as the students! “Rules for thee but not for me” is not a viable policy for the classroom.

And if anyone ever figures out how to get parents not to text their kids at school, please let me know. I’m pretty sure everybody knows that the main office has phones and secretaries for emergencies. Come on parents, let your kids plug in.

What can parents do?

As mentioned, sometime parents are part of the problem. Certainly, being able to reach a child at a moment’s notice is seen as a positive, especially given all the school shootings in the news. But would having a constant line of communication changed anything in Uvalde? Not if your child goes to a school with a deficiency in leadership in a town with cowards for police.

I think students should have their mobile devices, but that they should be kept put away during lectures, lessons, or labs. I think this is a happy compromise for parents and students to have with classroom teachers.

However, we often see certain individuals that when given an inch will almost always end up taking a mile.

Bottom Line

Cellular devices are here to stay. They aren’t going anywhere. Our chief aim as professional educators should be to teach and encourage students to take full advantage of the powerful technology in the palm of their hands. Having fun with devices is perfectly acceptable, but developing the executive functions skills to learn that there is a time and a place for play. And it’s not in the middle of a lesson!

We are indeed living in exponential times. This means that your students’ children may one day have cellular implants with retinal displays that will be invisible not only to teachers and professors but also to the rest of the world.