Technolandy

Day 89 (of 2024/25) #tEChursday look at two updates to the cell phone ban

1. Are kids scoring high on creative competency skills? https://apple.news/A5tYgy4qYTL-CF-jk0NPioA
2. Are kids tired of screens? https://apple.news/ALI7YZbrQSmSaecWSdJj5kw

For me, a key component of screen use remains knowing if they are being used for consuming or creating content/information/examples of learning in ways that cannot be done without a screen… thus even I am not universally 24/7/365 screens… (but I’m willing to say that for some… okay…) 

But when rules are in place, people are gonna ignore or cheat – just look at the number of bicyclists NOT wearing helmets… at least on ski mountains the helmets have very much been normalized! And whole industries have been created to help students cheat …err, I mean ‘succeed’ at the Gaokao in China! So of course some are going to turn in a fake/old phone in order to be compliant to the rules while having options remain available to them… and wearable tech is only going to make things more complicated – while the Apple Watch has a very distinctive appearance, there are many other smartwatches that have much more elaborate coverings to conceal what they can actually do… likewise with other jewelry inspired wearable tech – unless we also start banning all rings and other jewelry that may not have a big screen, but can still provide distractions… and clothes aren’t too far behind.. https://hexoskin.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoor8RFX6TScMMyOvB2EbQXvQZkil69zCjAkDwwQpxZu_go5j3uL – checking circulation is the first step – tapping sms messages is next!

And now that screens are everywhere, the excitement stage is (finally) done – no longer that thrill that many of us oldies had when the tv on a trolley was rolled into the classroom, screens are everywhere – to fill pro/con lists everywhere! I do wonder if the screen hits a bit different than the projector aimed at a whiteboard or other wall space (I am still much more of a fan of portable screens/projectors than mounted ones always facing the same direction…)I know I have a couple teachers that would already prefer to stick with the old projectors they have rather than the amazing touch screens because of the stigma of screen time that is becoming more vocal… as I shared yesterday – even screens with food, which is the greater evil – students not eating lunch because they are watching the ‘tv’ that they don’t get to do at home, or the students who are eating lunch because they are distracting themselves in order to eat, and can fight their paranoia by insisting that everybody else is watching the images, not them. 

As a long term tech enthusiast, I also know the importance of balance – I have long shared that my classes/schools were easily the most tech-familiar and nature-familiar in the school/district. And my students love/hated that everything had a mindful component to it – “math games friday” was a way to explore how math and video games could be linked… sometimes very apparently, other times with subtlety … and is why I will again and again repeat my own mantra for screen use: creating or consuming data (content, information, entertainment, learning – similar statements were used when paper tablets were first becoming common in households and ‘schools’). And I still love sharing the (now old) story of what happened one day to me when the power in the school went out… the principal can and asked how things were going, and we had no idea what he was talking about, but the analog classrooms were struggling because of a power outage, while our class were still hammering away on our iBooks (so now you can estimate some timelines) and thanks to battery backups, had no idea that things were a little wonky… admittedly early in the wifi days so we were not as connected to the cloud for resources as we have become… but even now, a power outage is a bit of a nuisance, but not an end to tech usage (as long as the battery isn’t below 20%…

My advice continues to lean tech-heavy, but mindfully as a balance to those who would wish to lean further back into the old days (which were not as good as we wish to remember them as). And recent blogs are posting out some research about writing and reading on paper vs typing/screens is more flawed than advocates probably wish it were… if anything the claims on all sides help show that ‘research’ is a lot more skewed to ones own bias than we wish it actually was. 

As for references to Jonathan Haidt, who has a LOT of ideas I will continue to push and encourage (free play!) I will continue to comment ‘with a grain of salt’ until he better includes gun violence in schools into why we are dealing with ‘the anxious generation’ – and by ‘generation’, he also needs to expand the years since there was a reason why BC brought in Australias Friends for Life CBT program to BC schools to help with anxiety two decades ago… I’m still not happy that it was discontinued… 

But I will continue to advocate that we do a better job teaching how to make a/effective use of personal digital devices rather than ban them to be explored without a role model/safe place to make mistakes; that we spend more time connecting with nature and exploring physical and mental health with and without tech support; that we do more free play and explore ‘deep’ learning structure.  Deep play. Dee- learning. Finding flow. Losing track of time. Mindfully knowing when to use which tech to better synthesize information and communicate learning. But also knowing there is no universal panacea and ‘one best way for all to learn’ (though I think PBL might be closest…)

Keep exploring and questioning what we do… and do not.