Fortunately, we don’t have it quite this bad in elementary school… yet. But I’m not optimistic about the future even with our little ones. Too many struggle with addiction to school-provided devices such as IPads. Tantrums and disruption follow any request to put the device away and transition to other work. It slows learning and increases dangerous dependency on entertaining instruction. I limit tech access in my classroom using it only when required. My daydreams imagine sullen and anxious tech executives sitting shamefully before congressional committees as they try to justify their years of psychological manipulation creating generations of addicted and profitable lifelong consumers. I’d like to believe they’ll share the social stigma of their kindred spirits in the tobacco industry, but I’m not very hopeful.
The worst part is, generally speaking, the people who created these addictive machines don't let their own kids use them, social media executives in particular.
I love reading your work! I just subscribed, but your teaching method are great! The first story was comical, but it gets worse as it goes on. I guess we never really think about phones as an "addiction" until it gets so bad we just have to.
It's not only in school. The jails and prisons have given the inmates their own tablets and I've watched grown men taking their tablet to the bathroom, to the shower, and to the pill window line. I've even seen one or two take them to the breakfast table.
Of course, during rec time, they have them out in the rec yard, with headphones on.
I've been slowly trying to get over my tech addiction. I now routinely forget to pick the thing up when I leave the house, and have to go back in and get it.
Wild about the prisons...and yet somehow I don't find it surprising. I literally think about viewing social media like taking a drag of a cigarette. Accept its socially acceptable to do so in front of others. If I was stuck in jail with nothing to do I'd smoke a pack a day.
I am a teacher and have experienced some tamer examples like you share here, but your post and the first story has reminded me of something that I witnessed a few years ago.
I was walking past a McDonald's and it turned out that there had a been fight inside between a customer and one of the chefs (only reason I know this is because it made it into the local news). As I was walking past, I noticed the ambulance, the police and a bunch of people outside. A man on a stretcher was brought outside (the chef) with blood all down his side and he was unconscious, and what shocked me and made me feel pretty angry at humanity was the sheer number of people who pulled out their phones and started filming. I really felt for the man, who I hoped survived the incident, but also for the medical staff/police who were just trying to do their jobs.
Mob mentality in practice. If its okay for that person to video this and show their friends then its okay for me to do it. Never mind how it makes the guy bleeding all over the place feel. Dopamine seeking behavior takes all shapes of interesting forms. This tech thing is the newest.
Roger that. I know it'll be tough, I'll probably be hated, but when I have kids I'm going to do my damndest to delay giving my kids a smart phone for as long as possible.
Kids today have it so hard. I remember when smart phones first became accessible. I think the human mind changed that day, and not for the better. Thank you for these thought provoking essays.
Reminds me of a local LoCali story from a few years ago. Girls at the scariest middle school in LA were busted for producing / setting-up / arranging fights that they’d video. Budding Don King tendencies. LAUSD finally clamped down on phones this year.
Fortunately, we don’t have it quite this bad in elementary school… yet. But I’m not optimistic about the future even with our little ones. Too many struggle with addiction to school-provided devices such as IPads. Tantrums and disruption follow any request to put the device away and transition to other work. It slows learning and increases dangerous dependency on entertaining instruction. I limit tech access in my classroom using it only when required. My daydreams imagine sullen and anxious tech executives sitting shamefully before congressional committees as they try to justify their years of psychological manipulation creating generations of addicted and profitable lifelong consumers. I’d like to believe they’ll share the social stigma of their kindred spirits in the tobacco industry, but I’m not very hopeful.
The worst part is, generally speaking, the people who created these addictive machines don't let their own kids use them, social media executives in particular.
I love reading your work! I just subscribed, but your teaching method are great! The first story was comical, but it gets worse as it goes on. I guess we never really think about phones as an "addiction" until it gets so bad we just have to.
Oooof, it wasn't comical at the time, i can tell you that much. But thank you for the compliment.
Its an addiction on the level of heroin, worse than cannabis, alcohol, gambling or porn.
It's not only in school. The jails and prisons have given the inmates their own tablets and I've watched grown men taking their tablet to the bathroom, to the shower, and to the pill window line. I've even seen one or two take them to the breakfast table.
Of course, during rec time, they have them out in the rec yard, with headphones on.
I've been slowly trying to get over my tech addiction. I now routinely forget to pick the thing up when I leave the house, and have to go back in and get it.
Wild about the prisons...and yet somehow I don't find it surprising. I literally think about viewing social media like taking a drag of a cigarette. Accept its socially acceptable to do so in front of others. If I was stuck in jail with nothing to do I'd smoke a pack a day.
I am a teacher and have experienced some tamer examples like you share here, but your post and the first story has reminded me of something that I witnessed a few years ago.
I was walking past a McDonald's and it turned out that there had a been fight inside between a customer and one of the chefs (only reason I know this is because it made it into the local news). As I was walking past, I noticed the ambulance, the police and a bunch of people outside. A man on a stretcher was brought outside (the chef) with blood all down his side and he was unconscious, and what shocked me and made me feel pretty angry at humanity was the sheer number of people who pulled out their phones and started filming. I really felt for the man, who I hoped survived the incident, but also for the medical staff/police who were just trying to do their jobs.
Mob mentality in practice. If its okay for that person to video this and show their friends then its okay for me to do it. Never mind how it makes the guy bleeding all over the place feel. Dopamine seeking behavior takes all shapes of interesting forms. This tech thing is the newest.
It's real. Especially in high school, not quite as bad in middle school. It's real.
Roger that. I know it'll be tough, I'll probably be hated, but when I have kids I'm going to do my damndest to delay giving my kids a smart phone for as long as possible.
Kids today have it so hard. I remember when smart phones first became accessible. I think the human mind changed that day, and not for the better. Thank you for these thought provoking essays.
Thank God none of your students are demoralized or scared or anxious about internet porn. I was worried teachers were ignoring that problem.
Reminds me of a local LoCali story from a few years ago. Girls at the scariest middle school in LA were busted for producing / setting-up / arranging fights that they’d video. Budding Don King tendencies. LAUSD finally clamped down on phones this year.
Man do I relate to this! Thank you for sharing!