I mean it kind of needs to be both. But it’s hard to find a compelling reason why kids need their smartphones fully accessible during class.

One thing I miss about reddit is that I could just filter out r/teenagers

"oh no i cannot play on my phone, how could school be so cruel"

What would you prefer the school do?

How could they motivate you to actually pay attention in class instead of playing with your phone? Honestly ask yourself if this "addressing motivation" would make geometry more interesting than tiktok.

OP take a look back at this in about 5-10 years and realize how monumentally ignorant it is.

I can try to make the material interesting and be engaging but if you're watching Overwatch on your phone all of that is a moot point.

Wrong. Get off the phone.

If schools only focused on what students were motivated to learn, I'm not sure schools would really be accomplishing much. Not to say that schools shouldn't foster motivation in students. Just that technology, especially social media, is very effective at distracting people.

Technology is clinically known to suppress emotions. It has a correlation to a-motivation. So banning technology use in school is actually good. It's just that most schools think that will fix all the motivation problems, which it will not.

I agree that the school environment should be more motivating, but there's no way to compete with apps and games designed to be addictive, even adults have trouble avoiding their phones at work.

School will never be as interesting as a phone. Your teacher will never be as entertaining as an influencer. Your textbooks will never be as entertaining as your feed. What families and teenagers have to understand is that education is a choice. If you want to learn, you’ll probably have to put your phone down for long periods of time to actively listen and learn. It’s difficult. It tires you out. It’ll frustrate you. But you will eventually learn.

Then again - when I look at home prices and inflation, I understand young people’s feelings of futility.

Good luck young people. I’m really rooting for you to figure this out.

The amount of times I told my students they can use their phone for certain exercises, then 90% of them just went on Tiktok or played Clash Of Clans, is why is started not allowing phones.

I get that to the 10% it was super helpful but it's just easier to not allow everyone.

It's always rude to not listen. So phones should not be allowed during class.

However, It's rude not to allow breaks, growth, emergencies, and the fact that they are in fact, kids. They should be allowed to socialize, enjoy youth, and understand hierarchy/respect. So to earn respect, you must respect first.

Let the kids have their phones/computers as that is the modern world we live in. They will have technology. Don't discourage it just because some people learned "you won't always have a calculator in your pocket". Well, now you do, so rather than ban it, teach them to USE IT!!! Just... properly.

Adapt the teaching, not the class.

I don't think it's particularly unreasonable to conclude that any decent approach to the first will also include the second. That shit is literally designed to be addictive, even the best teachers are gonna struggle to compete.

How do I motivate my students? I'll need to know by 7:30 am PST tomorrow.

Thanks!

Not only kids struggle with this, adults too. I've seen restaurant visits where everyone puts their phone on a pile on the table, first one to ring pays the bill. Otherwise Billy couldn't stop texting his controlling partner all night.

There is more research to be done, but so far this might be a good thing: https://www.verywellmind.com/how-do-smartphones-affect-the-brain-2794892

This is just a weird comparison

Something I’ve found to have worked well in the past is phone breaks. It helps regulate phone usage and makes students far more likely to pay attention, myself included. The teachers that had the most success gave us phone breaks. Regulation and breaks > punishments.

Second slide makes the first one possible but will still take effort beyond that

Multiple studies have shown that smartphone decrease concentration, and have negative impact on emotional well being in adolescents.

The mere presence of a smartphone reduces basal attentional performance https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36256-4

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462

Attention or Distraction? The Impact of Mobile Phone on Users' Psychological Well-Being https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8093572/

Mobile phone use, behavioural problems and concentration capacity in adolescents: A prospective study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1438463916300645

The motivation problem isn't the school's fault, it's yours. You choose to not want to learn.

How do you address low motivation levels though? The response to covid, the endless school shootings, their parent's jobs, and even a small amount of reading about climate apocalypse should make it obvious to children that society despises them and that they have no future. How do you motivate someone to do well in school under those conditions if they're not already motivated?