I was interested to learn what teachers thought of the Government's decision to ban phones in school, so phoned some one I know, who is teaching in a Comprehensive school.. Her immediate reaction to my question was to laugh! She reckoned not what was needed, but the law that Australia has brought in to ban Social Media Sites to young people under 15 was a much better law.
My friend was saying that young people are on their phones out of school for 8 hours and more, missing sleep to keep messaging and looking at social media! They have a constant dialogue about some items on social media, and my friend said I'd be shocked to hear some of the things they talk about!
Evidently the young people openly talk about some quite 'risque' sites.. There are always some with their heads on their desks, because they are so tired..Parents admit they are unable to stop their children from using their phones in their bedrooms.
I wasn't shocked to hear that, years ago, I listened to parents stating their frustration with their children watching TV in their rooms, late into the night. I didn't say, but I always thought who bought the TVs!!
My own children didn't do that, because the second TV was not upstairs in their rooms, but in the dining room, so I knew what they were watching and be control of the Off Switch!
Thank goodness mine are all grown up and I don't have the worry of what mine are up to, altho', they do cause me concerns, but we can talk as adults.
Parenting these days is not easy, what do you think?
Chrisxx
All their gadgets should be thrown in the drink.
ReplyDeleteSurely the obvious thing to do is to take children's phones and tablets etc away from them at bedtime and not give them back until morning. As for children watching TV in their room all through the night....well if the parents didn't give them one then they wouldn't be able to be watching it instead of sleeping. I should mention I've never had kids so maybe I'm not in a position to say anything! A pet hate of mine is people flicking through their phones at mealtimes when everyone is sitting together round the table.
ReplyDeleteOur society has evolved to the point that many businesses assume you have a phone and need one to do business. However, that should be for adults. Kids will find a way, but the obvious first step is to take the phones away at night when they should be sleeping.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a mobile, it makes no difference to anything.
DeleteI know my daughters have a cut off time for their children, tablets tv and phones are off an hour or two before bed. Mine never had tvs in their rooms growing up, not until they came back home from uni, lol
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good law, at least a first step in getting control of kids' use of phones. Now parents need to step up too.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many distractions for children these days. Cutting off all connections is unhelpful, because they will be out of the loop with their friends.
ReplyDeleteParents should monitor their children and their screen time, at least until they are old enough to buy themselves the gadgets with their own money.
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure it has gotten way out of hand. I think more parents need to put some rules in place and if not obeyed take the phone away.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a different world than the one I grew up in.
Glad my kids are grown! :)
As far as no phones in school - sounds like a good thing to me.
My children never had televisions in their rooms, or computers or game consoles. It was just a choice we made. They were welcome to use them in the family areas of the house. It worked out ok lol
ReplyDeleteThe last years I taught Sunday School my 12 year olds had cell phones. I made everyone put them in a clear box in the middle of the table for a whole hour, lol.
ReplyDeleteMy kids did have a tv in their room but we solved the problem by hitting the switch in the electric box that controlled their rooms when it was bedtime. #meanparents.