cc licensed ( BY SA ) flickr photo shared by goodevilgenius
True story…
I had an interesting conversation with a fellow educator the other day about how students are so connected to their mobile devices. As I listened quietly, she told me about college students and how they were constantly checking their phone, rudely interrupting class with their ringers going off, and were distracted in a way that she has never seen before.
Then her phone rang. She then proceeded to pick it up, answer, and excuse herself from the conversation.
Yup…that just happened.
So as I laughed at the irony of this, I thought about all of the ways that we vilify kids for behaviours that we do so often.
For example, I have heard complaining from adults in the staff room about students using their phone during recess and not exercising as much as they should. All of this, while being on the same break, checking their messages, calling their spouses, and eating unhealthy treats because, well, it’s a day of the week.
I am not saying that I think kids should be on the phone at recess and not exercise, but I believe in balance. What I do have an issue with is saying that kids should not be doing something that we are able to do.
I had a parent once tell me that kids are becoming ridiculous with technology, and then watched her pack up the kids in her mini-van, start the car, turn on her phone, and start talking while she was driving with them in the vehicle.
Those darn kids!
Back to the beginning of the story.
As the mom came back, she told me she had to take the phone call as her husband called because the kids wanted her to sing them to sleep since she was away. The device let her do that, when years ago, she would have had a hard time being able to say tonight while she was away.
Could you really fault her for taking the that phone call? I know I couldn’t.