We live in a world surrounded by technology. The technological advances are moving so quickly it’s mind boggling to people like me.
Someone mentioned the other day he wondered what we did before the advent of cell phones. He was a person in his 60s and he is a person I’d consider tech savvy.
My daughter and her husband Terry are very tech savvy and Terry is extremely so even with computers and related devices and equipment.
I accept that we live in a world with cell phones. They will only get better and even more streamlined. There’s not much information than can’t be put on one I guess.
That brings me to one of the real purposes for this discussion today. Our children have access to and are provided their own cell phones at such a young age.
I wouldn’t even try to guess what the median age is of children today who are given their own cell phone.
For sure, it’s too early for my way of thinking.
The manner most kids use cell phones today is just crazy. It can be annoying.
I remember years ago a letter to the editor I once received. The woman and her husband were taking a short vacation trip and two of their grandchildren were in the back seat.
The grandchildren were cousins. The woman noticed it was rather quiet in the backseat and didn’t hear much chatter from the two granddaughters.
She looked back to see why. The two girls were not talking, she found out, because they were texting one another, even though they were sitting a few feet apart in the back seat of the car.
The woman quickly took their cell phones from them and didn’t give the phones back to the girls until they arrived at their destination. That forced them to talk to each other and to their grandparents.
So many kids today have lost the art of communication due to cell phones.
Too many schools allow their students to use cell phones while in the classroom today.
I see last week where State Sens. Adam Pugh and Ally Seifried reportedly held an interim study that lasted a couple of days to look at the effects of cell phone use among students in K-12 schools.
Apparently they invited local educators and national experts as they examined the detrimental impact on the students.
Among those who spoke were teachers, school administrators, mental experts, a psychiatrist and a neuroscientist.
According to the report I read, the majority of them favored restricting phone use by students in schools, encouraging state lawmakers to look at a statewide policy that provides flexibility.
I know cell phones will never go away, at least not in my lifetime. But there is a time and a place for use of them.
One of those is not the classroom while students should be listening and participating for the purpose they are there.
Schools who do allow phone use, especially in the classroom, should revisit their policies. They may need or want to make some changes.