Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

[u/TheAeroplaneBear2906]

My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this 🫠

[u/ButtonholePhotophile]

It teaches kids to set alarms and be especially helpless because their phone is locked up. 🤣

[u/ItsStraTerra → u/ButtonholePhotophile]

Gotta be honest, I’d be playing random cricket sounds at random intervals full volume all day. Piss off everyone who thought this was a reasonable idea.

[u/Bladesnake_______ → u/ItsStraTerra]

Ah yes trying to get their kids to put phones down and pay attention in class is sooooooo unreasonable.

[u/ItsStraTerra → u/Bladesnake_______]

That’s not the point. Maybe it’s my “old age” showing, but when I was in school (graduated 2018) phones were a tool, that were often used in class to get information without the teacher needing to answer even small questions for every single student.

The kids that used their phones too much in non constructive ways were either ignored if they weren’t disruptive, or if they were they were sent to some equivalent of “detention” or to the principals office. After all, it’s their education that they’re choosing to not participate in. But if they did well in class, and weren’t disruptive, then why police a nonexistent issue? The teacher simply moved on and continued teaching.

I’m aware that “kids these days” are a bit different, but I just don’t see how removing access to someone’s physical property that should be used as a tool for learning or a way to cope with stresses of a teenager through music or whatever else between classes or downtime makes them any less agitated or frustrated and therefore unwilling to learn.

It’s asinine that there’s a company making boatloads of money just because they’ve successfully managed to increase the amount of attention that phones get from teachers and concerned parents. I’d be shocked if the kids these days use their phones more than when I graduated less than a decade ago.

We used them for note taking, calendar scheduling, research, reminders, etc. and I don’t really see how that’s an issue now.

I suppose the only saving grace here is that most kids have Chromebook’s or iPads. (Neither of which prepare a kid for using a proper computer, but that’s another conversation.) So I’m unaware of their full capabilities or if the kids are allowed to take them home, but that could be a somewhat reasonable alternative.

My only major concerns with literally locking the devices away is a lack of access to communication during an emergency. Otherwise it’s more of an opinion thing and probably not accurate for every person in every situation.

[u/Bladesnake_______ → u/ItsStraTerra]

There’s literally no emergency in which somebody can’t just call the school and have the kid informed. Kids aren’t cops or firefighters they don’t need to leave to solve some problem. That’s not a real scenario

[u/ItsStraTerra → u/Bladesnake_______]

What if the kid needs to contact the parents. Or record evidence. Abusive (both sexually, physically, and emotionally) teachers exist. Not to mention even just their classmates. What about the bus ride to or from school in the places that just restrict phones entirely?

You’re telling me that in the (admittedly unlikely) event that the teacher or more importantly the bus driver becomes unresponsive, that these kids should just have no way to contact anyone or provide video evidence of important situations if needed?

A lot of kids barely get listened to even when they have physical proof because “dumb kids” or it becoming a “he said she said” type situation between two individuals, even one who absolutely is supposed to have authority? How are you suggesting we do that without 24/7 video surveillance every moment the kids are within the “jurisdiction” of the school.