To text their parents they love them when they are on lock down for the third time in 10 days and have no idea what is going on.

I can guarantee that access to social media and smartphones cause more shootings than they save students during them.

That's very rare. In the meantime they are having their brains destroyed by social media and not paying attention in class.

Yeah, but it happened at my kid's school. Now my kid didn't actually text me during the incident. But other kids texted their parents. Different levels of panic depending on the classroom/kid. Also, within a week a kid was killed at a different school in the district.

Awful, but have to weigh that communication with how disruptive and harmful phones are to kids. Devil is in the details here.

Then there was the time, a kid brought a gun to the elementary school and it went off, luckily into the carpet. My kid was in a different part of the building and wasn't aware until I picked him up. I found out on social media, not through the school.

I am not against having kids put the phone away, but there are real reasons parents are worried.

My kids have had cell phones since middle school, it helps to know if there are bus issues and then there's the whole threat of Uvalde happening where I'd like them to be able to get in touch with me. If we lived in a society where that kind of thing didn't happen, that would be great, but we don't

They don't need them during class though.

They don't need to use them in class, but they still need them on their person in case a gunman comes on campus.

They don't need them durning class (with rare exceptions) however, they need them outside of class & too many schools take 0 responsibility for any of a kid's items during the school day, so leave it in the locker & they get stolen & the school says it was the kid's fault for owning a phone.

Fair. That's pretty much my kid's school policy.

some for monitoring blood sugar, but this is allowed through a 504 Plan. no problem.

There are also plenty of other devices that can do that, tho I’m not sure whether that can also access Instagram. But anyways: diabetic kids were in fact able to attend school without immediately dying in the age before smartphones

just a heads up, your final clause about diabetes before CGMs is a little flippant. Yes, kids could manage diabetes prior to CGMs but these devices offer much better outcomes. There are dedicated receivers but they’re a few hundred dollars and may not be covered by insurers.

CGMs are pretty dependent on smartphones which is why there are carveouts for health monitoring in the phone bans. Better to note these exceptions exist than reify that losing phones could have a negative outcome for health.

Fair.

Pete - why are you being so loudly ableist?

I work at a high school. The kids who use the phone for medical reasons aren't on Instagram during class.

Sky, are you trying to claim that every diabetic is also an angel?

Not my point at all but good for them

i teach at a high school. ive had plenty of kids with CGMs and only one of them needed a smartphone to use it. guess which kid used their blood sugar as an excuse to get out of work they didnt like?

Common scene: "Okay class, let's get rolling! [Student], please park your phone." "Wait, I'm texting my mom!" "Your mom knows you're not supposed to be on the phone in class."