Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Cellphone addiction in schools needs to be broken

Nov 13, 2019 | 5:45 AM

KAMLOOPS — A BAN ON CELLPHONES IN SCHOOLS has gone into effect in Ontario. Good for Ontario.

Many educators defend allowing students the use of cellphones because they say it’s a good educational tool.

But the Ontario public is overwhelmingly in favour of the ban, which includes all electronic devices capable of accessing the Internet. The reason is simple: students should focus on studies, not social media.

No provincewide ban is in the offing for B.C. but bans are not unheard of here. Two years ago, a school in Victoria imposed a ban, calling cellphones “detrimental” compared to the “extremely small” educational benefits. I wrote about it at the time.

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A second school in Victoria has followed suit. One Victoria teacher who likes the ban described the effort of constantly telling students to get off their phones as “exhausting.”

In Kamloops, schools are pretty much allowed to police themselves. Some have restrictions, others leave it entirely up to teachers.

Extolling the wonders of cellphones as educational tools is, in my opinion, a convenient way of not dealing with a problem.

Young people aren’t the only one who have cellphone problems. People of all ages seem incapable of functioning without them.

Ever forgotten your cellphone at home? Did you feel on edge the entire time you had to manage without it? Of course you did.

We’re petrified of missing an email or a tweet or a Facebook post. Maybe even a phone call. On the bus, in the car, on the sidewalk — we’re instantly bored without our phones to scan for messages or news. They’re an appendage.

Surely to God, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if students were made to focus on their studies instead of on texting friends.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.