I do not blame parents for thinking, if there’s someone with a gun in school, I need a way to reach my kids. And there is, on some level, a safety issue. Renstrom: It’s never going to be universal. BU Today: Should we be talking about this question, cell phones in classrooms, for all ages, middle school all the way through college? Or does age matter? They had been 100 percent doing that just so they could use their phone. Also interestingly, not a single student left during class to get a drink or go to the bathroom. It was very, very clear they were better able to focus. But at the end, they talked about how those predictions, and whether they were better able to focus. I surveyed students for a number of semesters how do you feel about putting your phone in a pouch? They made some predictions and said what they thought about how annoying it was. Did it work? What changes did it make? Did it make you anxious or distracted during those 50 minutes in class? I did that for years. But they also know there is this lack of balance in their lives. Students openly acknowledge they are addicted. They want to reach for it, it’s flashing, their parents are on it all the time. If you’re young and people around you are using it, you are going to want it, too. Renstrom: I have made the case before that addiction to phones is kind of like second-hand smoking. BU Today: But is getting students to agree more important than getting schools and parents to agree? Is it naive to think that students are supposed to follow the rules that we as parents and teachers set for them? But student buy-in to the idea is important. And then it becomes hard to explain why some people can have it and some people can’t. We will always have students with some kind of reason, or a note from someone, that gives them access to technology. ![]() Do we as a society need to be better about restricting cell phones in classrooms? It seems so obvious. Q &A with Joelle Renstrom BU Today: Let me get right to the point. She even performed an experiment with her students that supports what she long suspected: Cell Phones + Classrooms = Bad Learning Environment.īU Today spoke with Renstrom about the latest study and research. In fact, students openly admit their cell phones distract them and that they focus better in school without them, says Joelle Renstrom, a senior lecturer in rhetoric at Boston University’s College of General Studies. And, perhaps surprisingly, it prompts a collective yawn from students. It’s a fraught debate, one that prompts frustration among educators, who say students are less focused than ever as schools struggle to enforce cell phone limitation policies, and rage from some parents, worrying about a possible shooting when they can’t get in touch, who insist they need to be able to reach their children at all times. ![]() Parents should help.” The study recommends a ban on smartphones at school for students of all ages, and says the data are unequivocal, showing that countries that enforce restrictions see improved academic performance and less bullying. That was just one of the many findings in a recent report from a 14-country study by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) that prompted this headline in the Washington Post : “Schools should ban smartphones. And think about this: it might take them only 10 seconds to respond with a thumbs-up emoji, but their brain will need 20 minutes to refocus on the algebra or history or physics lesson in front of them- 20 minutes. Parents, the next time you are about to send a quick, trivial text message to your students while they’re at school-maybe sitting in a classroom-stop.
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