Instead Of Fearing & Banning Tech, Why Aren’t We Teaching Kids How To Use It Properly?

I recognize why some parents are worried about screen time and the use of technology in the classroom. But isn't the better idea to teach kids how to use it properly, rather than banning it altogether?

Lately, there have been a bunch of stories about banning mobile phones in schools. Both California and New York have been pushing to make it mandatory. Lots of people are ignoring that (1) this has been tried and failed, including in New York before, and (2) researchers studying various places where it has been implemented have found that the bans aren't very much useful.

This is not to say that phones belong in schools. There are plenty of reasons why schools or teachers might decide that phones need to be out of kids' hands during class time. But blanket mandatory bans just seem like overkill and prone to problematic enforcement.

Even worse, the push to ban phones is already morphing into other kinds of technological bans. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on new efforts to ban other kinds of technology, including Chromebooks or other kinds of laptops.

Cellphone bans are taking effect in big districts across the country, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The next logical question, at least for some, is: What about the other screens? These concerned parents argue that the Covid-era shift that put Chromebooks and tablets in more students' hands is fueling distraction more than learning.

I know that my kids use Chromebooks as part of their schooling, and they are pretty useful tools. Yes, there is a concern about kids spending too much time staring at screens, but the idea that banning these devices entirely in schools seems backwards.

Once kids graduate, they're going to need to use computers or other devices in a very large number of jobs out there. We're doing our kids an incredible disservice in thinking that the way to train them for the modern world is to ban the tools of the modern world from their instruction.

No one is saying to just let them go crazy on these devices, but, at the very least, it's important to train them in the proper use of these modern technologies, which includes how and when to put them down and do something else.

Otherwise, we're guaranteeing that kids will graduate and have to take jobs where they have to use computers and other devices where they simply haven't been trained to use them properly. This means that all the things that parents now seem afraid will happen will instead happen on the job.

That doesn't seem smart.

All of this is beginning to feel quite like the freak-out parents had about calculators four decades ago. Teaching kids how to use modern technology well should be a job for schools and educators. It seems like a real disservice to kids and their future for politicians and parents to step in and try to stick everyone's head in the sand and make sure that no kids are prepared for the modern world.

The article is full of parents opting their kids out of any technologies, which again seems unlikely to be healthy for those kids either. It notes that schools are struggling with parents demanding that all technology be taken out of class, noting that plenty of teaching tools today involve technology.

As it should.

Avoiding technology entirely for kids until they graduate seems like a recipe for disaster. They're going to be dropped into a world where technology is a necessity, and they will not have any sense of how to use it, let alone use it properly.

There's a way for schools to teach kids how to properly use technology, and it isn't by telling them it is bad and must be banned.