5 ms·

Helicopter parents and PTA Karens that just have to be able to connect to their kids at all hours. But also, 80s/90s stranger danger and all the school shootin

• etrautmann 3y ago
  Yeah - it pains me to say this is exactly right. Security concerns trump rationality too often.
• miki123211 3y ago
  Stranger danger and school shootings never really happened outside the U.S., and this is not an America-specific problem. I think phones got through the "back door". When the first cell phones came around, not many kids took them to school, but the only thing they could actually use them for was contacting their friends/parents during breaks, so there was no reason to ban them. A Gameboy was specifically an entertainment device, an old cell phone was more like a flashlight or a watch, something which could presumably be used as a toy, but usually was not. Then, cell phones got cheaper, more kids got them, but they also got more advanced. In the feature phone era, a lot of kids had phones already, but the balance of genuine communication versus amusement was still leaning towards communication. This changed very rapidly, and at a time where phones in schools were already ubiquitous, though their use in class might not have been.
  • nerdponx 3y ago
    Plenty of kids in high school were BBM/texting during class on their flip phones, Sidekicks, etc. They were told not to do it, but they did it anyway under the desk. Only a handful of strong-willed teachers actually took the phones away. However none of the younger kids did that kind of thing.