It's no surprise this teacher struggles. Some young people would choose to lose a finger rather than their phone [1]. In a similar study a few even said they'd

It's no surprise this teacher struggles. Some young people would choose to lose a finger rather than their phone [1]. In a similar study a few even said they'd prefer a pet or relative died than give up the phone. The "excuses" that the article highlights are just a few examples that float to the top of a deep swamp of hilarious responses I've heard. They are similar to the old "why I didn't hand-in my homework" excuses, being highly creative, florid and dressed in passionately over-egged "sincerity". Suddenly dying relatives, packs of wild dogs, bizarre car accidents and robberies... I didn't realise my students had such interesting movie-plot lives until they need an excuse not to put their phone away. We must heed what it means that people will rationalise, fantasise, feign offence, bullshit, say anything to justify their unique and special need not to comply. Fact is, those people are profoundly, perhaps irrevocably, addicted to smartphones. It is not the sort of thing one teacher, one school or even a city can challenge. We need broad societal recognition of the problem. [1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/artificial-maturity/201409/nomophobia-rising-trend-in-students https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/artificial-maturit...