3 ms·

Collect phones at the start of school. Like France. > Some would say it's a shame that middle schoolers need to develop the skills of a modern PR agency. If t

Collect phones at the start of school. Like France. > Some would say it's a shame that middle schoolers need to develop the skills of a modern PR agency. If teachers don't care yes.

saghm 8y ago
> Collect phones at the start of school While I don't disagree with this idea at all and think it would definitely make the situation somewhat better, I also think it's naive to think that bullying would go away if kids didn't have cell phones. My (admittedly anecdotal) personal experience of middle school before smartphones and Facebook and the like was that bullying was still a pretty common thing. While taking phones away could stop one specific incident from being the source of repeated bullying, bullies will still find a way to bully even if they aren't able to keep permanent video records of various embarrassing incidents of their targets. That being said, I think there are additional arguments for not letting kids use their phones during school hours, and I wouldn't see any problem with enacting such a policy.
- olyjohn 8y ago
  Yes but bullies coudln't send video of their actions to 1000 people at once and get positive feedback from 400 of them within a few minutes. Their audience was limited to whomever happened to be around, positive feedback from an even smaller group, and the verbal rumor mill which wears out quickly. The larger audience, and the anonymous group/mob encouragement is the difference...
  - Mirioron 8y ago
    No. The small audience was good enough. Hell, sometimes there isn't any audience when bullies bully people and they do it anyway. And the kid that's being bullied is still an outcast in school, meaning that they don't have friends. At least if they have a phone it's possible that they might get positive interaction from people online since they don't get any from their physical surroundings.
- hannasanarion 8y ago
  Mark in the story wasn't bullying anybody. He was just recording and posting, like he always does with everything he sees. He justifies his behavior to himself by calling it a "PSA", informing people that there's a wet floor. Brian is the victim, but he is not the target. In the age of social media, children can cause terrible harm to each other without any adverse intent.
- duado 8y ago
  Your argument is analogous to “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Well, yeah, but tools selectively amplify people’s powers. Tools matter.
  - saghm 8y ago
    I think I was pretty clear that I was still in favor of taking the phones away
- Mirioron 8y ago
  If you want to make the kids that are bullied be even more cut off from society then taking phones away is a good idea. If you're being bullied then people won't interact with you. At least if you have a phone you could interact with people outside of the circle of people directly around you. It's not like you can choose who you go to school with.
barry-cotter 8y ago
It’s not like anyone else cares. Teachers aren’t unusual.
watwut 8y ago
Yeah. True story from advent of phones: school boys were bullying a boy really badly and made a video with phones. Video leaked, big scandal think pieces in local journals. Modern phones blamed, I kid you not. Solution: phones no longer not allowed in school. Everybody seems happy. Sarcasm: because apparently when no one can take video of it, it did not happened or something. Boy from article in 2008 knew exactly where he stands in hierarchy. Cause he would be sitting alone with no one to talk with every day and optionally beaten like the boy above.
Mirioron 8y ago
All you're doing is hiding the problem. It doesn't make a difference for the kid being bullied.

Collect phones at the start of school. Like France. > Some would say it's a shame that middle schoolers need to develop the skills of a modern PR agency. If teachers don't care yes.

saghm 8y ago

> Collect phones at the start of school While I don't disagree with this idea at all and think it would definitely make the situation somewhat better, I also think it's naive to think that bullying would go away if kids didn't have cell phones. My (admittedly anecdotal) personal experience of middle school before smartphones and Facebook and the like was that bullying was still a pretty common thing. While taking phones away could stop one specific incident from being the source of repeated bullying, bullies will still find a way to bully even if they aren't able to keep permanent video records of various embarrassing incidents of their targets. That being said, I think there are additional arguments for not letting kids use their phones during school hours, and I wouldn't see any problem with enacting such a policy.

olyjohn 8y ago
Yes but bullies coudln't send video of their actions to 1000 people at once and get positive feedback from 400 of them within a few minutes. Their audience was limited to whomever happened to be around, positive feedback from an even smaller group, and the verbal rumor mill which wears out quickly. The larger audience, and the anonymous group/mob encouragement is the difference...
- Mirioron 8y ago
  No. The small audience was good enough. Hell, sometimes there isn't any audience when bullies bully people and they do it anyway. And the kid that's being bullied is still an outcast in school, meaning that they don't have friends. At least if they have a phone it's possible that they might get positive interaction from people online since they don't get any from their physical surroundings.
hannasanarion 8y ago
Mark in the story wasn't bullying anybody. He was just recording and posting, like he always does with everything he sees. He justifies his behavior to himself by calling it a "PSA", informing people that there's a wet floor. Brian is the victim, but he is not the target. In the age of social media, children can cause terrible harm to each other without any adverse intent.
duado 8y ago
Your argument is analogous to “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Well, yeah, but tools selectively amplify people’s powers. Tools matter.
- saghm 8y ago
  I think I was pretty clear that I was still in favor of taking the phones away
Mirioron 8y ago
If you want to make the kids that are bullied be even more cut off from society then taking phones away is a good idea. If you're being bullied then people won't interact with you. At least if you have a phone you could interact with people outside of the circle of people directly around you. It's not like you can choose who you go to school with.

barry-cotter 8y ago

It’s not like anyone else cares. Teachers aren’t unusual.

watwut 8y ago

Yeah. True story from advent of phones: school boys were bullying a boy really badly and made a video with phones. Video leaked, big scandal think pieces in local journals. Modern phones blamed, I kid you not. Solution: phones no longer not allowed in school. Everybody seems happy. Sarcasm: because apparently when no one can take video of it, it did not happened or something. Boy from article in 2008 knew exactly where he stands in hierarchy. Cause he would be sitting alone with no one to talk with every day and optionally beaten like the boy above.

Mirioron 8y ago

All you're doing is hiding the problem. It doesn't make a difference for the kid being bullied.