Hello, Is It Me You’re Trying to Ban?
The Trouble with Blanket Statements, Rules, and Rose-tinted Glasses…
Post 5: Debates 5&6 – Social Media is ruining childhood / Cell phones should be banned in schools.
At the mere mention of cell phones, I knew I couldn’t bypass a little Adele/Lionel Ritchie meme action. Lionel represents the nostalgia I feel for my pre-WIFI/social media youth; Adele symbolizes a more modern perspective on cell phone inclusive classrooms. Dare I digress to the obvious dad joke? Who knew it could all meme so much? Groooooooan!
Two things set this post apart from previous reflections. First, these debate topics seem so interrelated I felt I could finally make a single Monday-night blog entry! Second, (are you ready for it?) I’m completing all of this on my iPhone, from the meme to the Spotify podcasts. If we suggest that students can and should use their cell phones for educational purposes, I want to test the practice for myself. As a fairly tech-savvy geriatric millennial, how hard can it be?
20 years later….okay, actually 5 hours, I can tell you….it’s time-consuming but a uniquely fun experience (for me). If you only have time to skip around on my podcast or no time at all (June is something!) scroll down to my questions. I would love to hear your opinions, insights, and experiences!
Kipp’s Debate 5 Questions:
- Do you think you view your childhood/generation with rose-tinted glasses? Do you think everything was as golden as we claim it was, or were there many issues that were swept under the rug, now brought to light by social media?
- What are you seeing in your classrooms? Are your students only using social media in a negative way? Or, if taught proper use, are they using it effectively to promote social change and amplify their voices?
Kipp’s Debate 6 Questions:
- LOTS OF QUESTIONS!
- Do you think there’s a difference in cell phone use being effective in elementary/middle schools versus high schools?
- Have you enforced a no-cell phone ban in your classroom/school/home?
- If the ban is school-wide, are different teachers opposed to it?
- Or, are you allowing cell phones in your classroom? How are you using it as a tool and “enforcing” mindful use in/out of the classroom?
4 Comments
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Wow, Kim! Look at you knocking it out of the park! Trying new things all the time. What a great idea to see if using a cell IS an effective learning tool. Definite distractions when using mine, but seems like a fun process too. Thanks for including me in your blog posts – I like seeing what you all are learning.
Great job on the podcasts, one more way that students could potentially use their phones in the classroom – making podcasts! I’d like to address one of your questions, “Do you think you view your childhood/generation with rose-tinted glasses? Do you think everything was as golden as we claim it was, or were there many issues that were swept under the rug, now brought to light by social media?” I think that the debaters on the disagree side did a good job of exploring this. Upon reflection I do believe that I look back on childhood with rose coloured glasses, just like my parents do, and their parents did before them. It’s a thing. For some reason every generation thinks their childhood was magical and that is the way things should stay for all time. Our children and students will one day be saying the same things to their children. I also do think that yes, we have a lot more awareness about the bad things that go on in the world, due to social media. I don’t think that things are necessarily worse for children than when I was a child, they are just different. Thanks for your insights.
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for responding. Yes, I agree, it seems to be a generational thing – it was always better BEFORE. It’s a hard thing to navigate – staying informed about the world (with so much access to world information), but then also keeping some semblance of peace/space to be in the here/now. Even after looking at both sides of the debates, I still waffle on where I sit with social media and cell phone use in class.
[…] is it! Debate #8! The final debate! It’s also my final class of my Masters! Thanks to Kim for inspiring me to try something new. So here goes. My first and last (at least for now) Podcast! […]