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90% of teachers support cellphone bans
Ninety percent of teachers in a NEA survey want their schools to ban cellphones in class, and 83 percent back all-day bans.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 3, 20242 min read


The anti-anxiety experiment: Friends without phones, adult-free camping
British mother persuaded teens to go smartphone-free for a month, then camp out for the weekend on their own.

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20243 min read


Phone-free schools: Can it be done?
California is getting on the no-phones-in-class bandwagon , reports AP. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants school districts to restrict students’...

Joanne Jacobs
Aug 15, 20241 min read


'Learn to joke,' say teens who faked teacher TikToks with sex, pedophilia
Middle school is the worst. Kids hit puberty and turn deeply stupid for a few years before they learn to handle it. Even so, the seventh...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 7, 20242 min read


No phones, no Moms, just kids playing in the park
Parents should band together to "say 'no' to smart phones and social," writes Laura Yuen in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She dreams of...

Joanne Jacobs
Jun 23, 20242 min read


How a middle school kicked the phone habit
Smartphones are a major classroom distraction, say nearly three-fourths of high school teachers and a third of middle school teachers in...

Joanne Jacobs
May 5, 20242 min read


Digital addiction starts early: 30% of K-2 kids use TikTok
Young children are becoming digital addicts, hooked on fast-paced scrolling, swiping and mini-rewards designed into platforms such as...

Joanne Jacobs
May 4, 20242 min read


Can't be bothered: Kids are absent from everything, not just school
Chronic absenteeism is way up, writes Robert Pondiscio, but kids aren't just absent from school. A disturbing number of young people are...

Joanne Jacobs
May 3, 20242 min read


Ban TikTok, say principals: 'Social media is merciless'
In an Education Week survey, 55 percent of principals said banning TikTok would "make their jobs easier," reports Olina Banerji. TikTok...

Joanne Jacobs
Apr 4, 20242 min read


Childhood's end
Phone-centered childhood is a disaster, writes Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic. In the early 2010s, "adolescents in rich countries traded...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 24, 20243 min read


Teens love their smartphones -- but some say it's 'peaceful' to be phone-free
Seventy-two percent of teenagers say they often or sometimes feel "peaceful" when they're without their smartphones, according to a Pew...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 13, 20242 min read


To spot 'fake news,' students need to know things
It's Media Literacy Monday in journalism class at Cupertino's Monta Vista High School, and Silicon Valley students are analyzing...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 21, 20242 min read


Ban phones in school: The experiment with kids' minds has failed
Smart phones are making students less smart, writes Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Student achievement has been falling around the world...

Joanne Jacobs
Dec 23, 20232 min read


Teen angst is normal: 'Wellness' may backfire
Mental health doesn't mean feeling good all the time, writes psychologist Lisa Damour in The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising...

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 11, 20232 min read


'Smartphones are kryptonite for learning'
Schools are going phone free to remove distractions in class and encourage students to socialize in their free time, report Meg Oliver...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 20, 20231 min read


Teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media, says Gallup
U.S. teenagers average 4.8 hours a day on social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter),...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 19, 20232 min read


Fourth-graders are finding PornHub
Online porn is easily available to kids, addictive and destructive, writes Isabel Hogben, a runner-up in The Free Press's high school...

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 3, 20231 min read


'At lunch hour, everyone eats alone, scrolling TikTok'
But, Mom, everyone else has a smartphone. Parents are trying to say "no" to smartphones for elementary and middle schoolers, but it's...

Joanne Jacobs
May 24, 20232 min read


Surgeon General: Social media is hazardous for your kids' health
Social media is endangering the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, warns Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in a 19-page...

Joanne Jacobs
May 24, 20232 min read


Study links early smartphone use with poor mental health
At what age did you get your first smartphone or tablet? The younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental...

Joanne Jacobs
May 20, 20232 min read
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