There Ya Go
What do climate change and cell phones have in common? We’re stuck with both of them. While we know climate change — global warming if you prefer to call it that — is a bad thing, the same cannot always be said about cell phones.
When it comes to climate change, many are trying to reverse the effects because we think by not littering or reducing our carbon emissions will help — and we should adopt more earth-friendly habits — but the overriding sentiment is that we’re too far gone and we have already wrecked our planet to the point-of-noreturn level.
Cell phones, on the other hand, serve a purpose, even though we cringe at how much they have become a part of us and our daily lives. We can’t leave our house or vehicle without our cell somewhere on our person. We rely on them to a fault and go into a cold sweat when we misplace them, if only for a couple minutes. But, they’re not going anywhere.
Cell phones do keep us connected no matter where we are. They afford us the luxury of communicating with anyone, whether we’re in our car or a bathroom stall at an airport.
The dark side is that we — and by we, I mean everyone, especially our kids — are addicted to our phones. Kids aren’t addicted because they want to call someone all the time or receive a call, but because cell phones are not just phones, they’re pocket computers that remove all boundaries to the outside world.
According to the Good Samaritan website, smart phones affect our brains, even if we don’t realize it.
Smartphone addiction shares a number of similarities with other behavioral addictions like compulsive gambling. We know that the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a role: Every time we get a “like,” receive a glowing comment, or hear the ding of a new notification, a little hit of dopamine reinforces that positive feeling we get.
Some apps are even specifically designed to take advantage of how our brains respond to dopamine in order to keep us coming back. This is a powerful motivator and can be challenging to overcome.
Teenage use of social media is more pervasive now than ever. Most adults know too much of a good thing is a bad thing, but our kids either don’t know that, or don’t care. They just want their phones.
This is the cross that schools continue to bear. The Tracy Area Public School District has long had a cell phone policy in place, and recently has tried to crack down more — not to punish kids, but to protect them, and to protect the sanctity of learning, which is why the kids are in school in the first place. Last Thursday, the TAPS School Board held a lengthy discussion on the issue. The high school is on the verge of introducing what are called Yondr pouches this coming school year as a way to fight back. It won’t be perfect, but that’s the issue here — I don’t know if perfection is even attainable. Even if you get these minicomputers out of a kid’s hands, good luck preventing him or her from thinking about it, or missing it, during biology class.
Local data indicate TAPS is trending in the right direction. The number of students with no offenses actually rose in the last school year compared to the previous year, and the total number of infractions went from 253 to 206.
Not too shabby, but can we do better? As far as dealing with offenders of the current cell phone policy — and possibly improving on those numbers — the real solution might very well lie in discipline. Should we start to really punish students? Can we continue to use kid gloves; maybe we need to really put the hammer down?
Schools will continue to have an uphill battle on their hands as they try to do their best for our students. While pouches might not totally solve the problem, it’s my hope they’re a step in the right direction — like ‘em or not.
