Recently, the Swedish right-wing government proposed to outlaw mobile phones in classrooms (compulsory school) because negative results from the PISA results regarding school, “measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.” Previous center governments have proposed the same.
Simple causation: Bad results leads to conclusion about bad influence leads to obvious solution.
Approximately 80 % of all schools already have a ban on phones during the school day. So, the proposals are just populist-like ideas, supposed to prove that governments are perceptive and .
Rather, I see the usual conclusion as backwards, which is an unpopular stance whenever I discuss it with grown-ups. The solutions, from my perspective, is very simple: The grown-ups, first and foremost, must stop using phones so recklessly, so disrespectfully, so much. Don’t expect children and adolescents to put down their devices when the grown-ups show how it’s done: device in hand at all times.
Our digital toys (a distant relative called them theme parks) are so precious we simply can’t let go of them. But since children are children and can be harmed, they should learn their place and proper behaviour. The idea that grown-ups are role models is completely absent in this conversation.
It’s considered rude to question the technological “evolution”. Virtually nothing is possible or plausible or feasible to hinder. It’s “development”, the ubiquitous unstoppable force of linear thought and progression.
Plenty of young children have SnapChat or TikTok. Amazingly, they’re not even 13 years old. Does that matter? They’re not allowed to use these platforms belonging to these companies because they underage. It’s in violation to terms of service. Do parents seem to care? No. Do companies seem to care? No.
Discord, among others, and video games hav been blamed for exposing children and youth to extremism. Or rather, Discord is a platform serving extremism, while video games are the vehicle used by the extremists to disseminate information, misinformation and disinformation.
YouTube Kids providing 9-year-olds and 14-year-olds recommendations to videos about guns and gun-related violence, gun-modification and injuries.
Studies in the U.S. show deteriorating health related to teens, especially girls, which coincides with the introduction of the smartphone. Adam Alter, in his book Irrestible: The rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked, mentions a conversation by a young teenage girl lamenting the presence of a friend, who doesn’t listen to her, because the friend is too focused on her phone to care. Absence in presence.
Imagine being ten years old and get your first smartphone. You have the usual flora of social media apps. Let’s pretend you receive approximately, generally, 100 notifications during 24 hours. 24 hours, everyday for ten years. When the child has left adolescence and become an adult, they have received 100 * 365 * 10 notifications = 365 000 notifications. A notification is designed to create a reaction: vibration, sound, light. Even one reaction is enough to usually increase the pace of your heart. 365 000 bodily reactions in your child.
Thus, we have the issue of parents exposing their own children systematically on social media. Once upon a time I blogged about being a parent, even co-creating a podcast on the subject. One reason was the almost total lack of parents writing about being a parent, what it entails. Your tips and tricks, shortcomings, logistics, fears. Most bloggers wrote about consumption or clothing: buying things for your children. And the, almost, relentless pictional depiction of children dressed in clothes, playing with computers or iPads. Grown-ups exposing children. I even saw pictures of children sitting on the toilet, smiling, being only three years old. Imagine a teenager knowing you did that. Once you turn 80 and need to rely on a walker or support taking a shower – imagine your grandchildren photographing you, posting the picture with a funny comment on the Internet. Lucky you!
It’s fascinating how much the grown-ups want to keep squeezing their own phones. No matter how much youth suffer or are exposed, we simply can’t let go of the screen ourselves. When will it stop?
My argument? As long as grown-ups can’t be grown-ups, the school cannot help solve the issue. The governmental solution is based on the false causation and premise that mobile phones are used in compulsory school. But in many schools, electronic devices aren’t allowed. They’re given to the staff, kept in lockers during school and returned to the children when they leave for home.
Since the issue isn’t children using phones in schools, my argument is that grown-ups are to blame. They must stop being addicted, much like a smoking parent must stop smoking rather than stopping their children from seeing parents smoking, or this issue won’t be solved. But since we’re a technoreligious society, where grown-ups hold the power in adherence to laws, the grown-ups won’t put down their phones.