Today I Learned

I love mobile tech. I've been using it for years, I've advocated for its use, recommended it to others, helped many set it up. And as much as I really HATE to say it, I was wrong.

To be fair- the problem isn't the tech, the problem is the applications- social media 'scrolling' apps and short form video to be specific. But these days those apps are basically impossible to separate from phones and iPads.

And when the asshole algorithm based attention seekers (Meta, TikTok, Google, etc) came around, I and those like me had given them all a direct mainline IV into peoples eyeballs. We had good intentions- we never wanted mobile tech to become this. We never saw it coming. But we should have.

Unfortunately @Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world, at this point I think your answer is the only one we've got left. I've seen what passes for 'kid friendly' on an iPad- bright colors, happy music, think CocoMelon in an app. Or worse, short form videos- we let our kids spend 6 hours a day watching 30 second videos, and then wonder why they can't focus in class for more than 45 seconds. Yeah there's no porn, but it might as well be digital crack cocaine for the brain.

So yeah, at this point I think for our own good we need to roll this back like a failed update. Go back to dead-tree books and textbooks, or at the very least, downgrade to E-Ink or monochrome LCD so the screen is less engaging than the real world, not more.

Finally, and most importantly, we need to re-evaluate our relationship with boredom. Boredom sucks, but it also leads to inspiration and creativity. Scrolling apps essentially eliminate boredom, because however much time you have to kill, there's always more content to fill it. And I think that's a bad thing- we need a little boredom.

I like to think that Oregon isn't included because it shifts the curve too aggressively. To the left.

They think they are smarter though. Beacause Tiktok told them so.

Journalists have always used the old postal abbreviations. It's part of the Associated Press style.

The NYT has its own style guide that doesn't always match the AP.

Vermont is poor and mostly rural. It has seen poor economic growth the last decade and residents have been leaving the state in droves. It was gutted by the rising of AirBNB rentals and then the pandemic.

Most of the economy is just rich people going there to vacation, who have drastically shot up the cost of living, prices out the locals, just like Colorado and other outdoor recreation areas. A lot of the local places were also bought up my Vale, etc.

Something like 22% of the US speaks something other than English at home. I wonder how this plays a role. I have no data beyond this, but it's just something I've wondered about.

My kids district is a diverse one, I think white is just barely the majority, and it's a real smattering of all sorts otherwise. There are a lot of kids who come from parents who clearly speak no English. And so when test results come out, they don't look great for the school, but it's kinda like no shit, we have kids learning English for the first time, of course they won't test well.

So for this reason, I see how my kids are doing, I read with them, I do math with them, and if things seem good then they seem good, and I'm not personally going to stress over test score trends schoolwide, and certainly not statewide or nationally.

They're not even taught how to use context or subtext to understand a word they don't know. It would actually be more helpful if they did instead of just letting them go ahead and invent an entire new meaning for words they don't know.

NM is one of the poorest states in the country. With no real major cities, there’s a lack of opportunity. Also, the eastern counties are as red as rural Texas.

To point the problem more clearly.

If student Numbskull repeats the grade. That means the their low scores affect you in Year 1 and Year 2. That's funding directly affecting you, your compensation, your ability to remain employed for you, the teacher, and all of the admin staff.

It's much better (for you) to push them along and make them someone else's problem.

It's like the Peter Principal in action.

it’s more than that: they’ve been hiring literacy coaches to sit in on and improve literacy classes across the state and increasing government reach into local education

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/podcasts/the-daily/mississippi-schools-test-scores.html

I have, on multiple occasions paid an an amount that would have someone give me $5 back in change or exact cents, then had them be utterly confused and have to pull out a calculator.

But like, if the total is 17.75, and I hand them $22.75. I'm expecting the person to be able to figure out I'm making it simpler for them.