Better things to do.

Michelle Goldberg's essay in the New York Times is interesting reading as it suggests the answer to our social media/phone/internet problems might be to offer them better places to go. I suggest, better things to do. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/opinion/internet-kids-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.d00.r9Z6.Z0negzF3Vyf7&smid=url-share

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a college professor who is working on an article about technology and education. He asked me about how schools might best deal with the disruptive force of iPhones in school. Parents spend a loot load of money on them, and want their kids to be accessible to them at all times. Social media offered through the phones is recognized as presenting tremendous mental health problems, and they tend to be a distraction. 

A couple weeks ago I offered classes in box making to staff and board at ESSA, the school I helped found 25 years ago. As I taught, I noticed a few phones left on benches that were occasionally picked up so that their owners could record videos and images of the experience so it could be shared or remembered. In no way were the phones disruptive. Nor need they be disruptive in schools.

The secret to integrating phones successfully in schools lies in making learning active, project based, relevant and less mind numbing. Of course kids will be drawn to facebook, instagram, tiktok and other sites if what they're doing in schools is abstract and out of touch. The phones will be put down when there are real things to do.

In my shop I'm revisiting a project from 2002, building toddler sized rocking chairs—in preparation for teaching a class in the fall.