Two days ago, I shared a Fox News video about a “tough” cell phone policy that was adopted by a school in the Bay Area. Today, I found another CNN News video discussing a similar topic. It seems that a debate has emerged of whether school shall ban cell phones and access to social media.
In this video, two school teachers and a group of students tried to live without cell phones or checking social networking sites for one week. Can you imagine how difficult it would be? Will their lives become miserable as they have to talk to real people instead of texting or tweeting? Wouldn’t it be weird when they have to actually talk to somebody face to face? Are these people insane?
If you were challenged today for not texting, tweeting, or Facebooking for a week, what are your reactions? Will you be able to “survive”? How additive do you think you are with cell phones or social media?
In this video, two school teachers and a group of students tried to live without cell phones or checking social networking sites for one week. Can you imagine how difficult it would be? Will their lives become miserable as they have to talk to real people instead of texting or tweeting? Wouldn’t it be weird when they have to actually talk to somebody face to face? Are these people insane?
If you were challenged today for not texting, tweeting, or Facebooking for a week, what are your reactions? Will you be able to “survive”? How additive do you think you are with cell phones or social media?
I see where school officials are coming from… social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may prove as a distraction to many students in High School but what they fail to realize is that social media and mobile devices is the new era of communication which have many pros which outweigh the cons.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest thing about these modes of communications is that they are efficient. Text messaging allows users to talk with multiple people and most importantly, at a time of their choosing. You can read a text message and decide it isn’t the best time to answer it, but it’s much harder to ignore someone who walks up to you wishing to have a 20 minute conversation at a busy time. Similarly, you never know how long a phone call will be, but you can be sure that a text message won’t take more than a few seconds.
I along with the entire student body probably text, Facebook, and Twitter more than we should and we could definitely survive without them, but why would we? It does more than connect us with each other, but also allows us to learn about the world around us. It was through Facebook that I first heard about North Korea’s attack on South Korea (only minutes after it happened) and what was the very next thing I did? Spread the word to my parents via text message (I found out before them). So yeah, Facebook along with Twitter and texting may be addictive but I believe it is rightfully addictive.
So while Facebook and text messaging may not be acceptable in the classroom, I find it ridiculous and unnecessary to “ban” it outside of school.
This is pretty interesting, i know my high school where my little brother goes now does have some limitations on cell phone usage in schools. not just in class but in the whole school in general. schools seem to be really cutting down on that.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post I started thinking about what it would be like if I had no cellphone, facebook or twitter for a week. I do not think I could make it. It would just make life a whole lot slower and I would need to do way more time consuming tasks. By no means would I be able to do as much in a day's time with no social connection. Our social media devices make life a lot less human connected, but allow us to multitask at our finest. I think people just need to find the medium between being productive on a social media device and human contact. Yes we can do alot of things on our phones, but we still need to have social skills.
ReplyDeleteAs for schools getting stricter with cellphone use during class time, I agree, it is rude to use a phone during class. The school should implement some rules as to being caught in class with using a cell phone. I think taking the phone over night as a punishment is unjust. Instead they should just give kids detention. I think that will teach them quickly to not use their phones.
In this age of social networks and the latest features on cellphones, I would see why it is sometimes hard to be able to give them up for a week. But I actually did that a couple weeks ago. I decided to not go on any social networks after Thanksgiving break because I was going to bombarded with papers and presentations. Of course this only lasted for about four days when I couldn't stay away from Facebook or Twitter. Yet I still felt accomplished knowing I had the will power to stay away from social networks for a few days to get my work done.
ReplyDeleteBeing that I went to high school in New york City, I had to survive four years without the use of my cellphone in school. NYC has a strong policy on bring cellphones into public schools. At one point they blocked all social networks, the age when MySpace was at it's peak. But of course students some how found a way around these barriers on the computers.
I think the constant use of cellphones and social media by teenagers results in the lack of communication skills, which I feel will hurt them in the future when trying to land a job.
There will never be a common ground for cellphone and social media. No matter how many rules you put into place it will always be difficult for students to not want to check there cellphones every couple of minutes.
ReplyDeleteToday if i was challenged to not text, tweet , or use facebook i think i might go a little crazy. These sites are a couple of the ones i immediately open when i open up my laptop or log onto a computer. it's just a habit.
I know i'll be able to survive because there are other things to do besides being on your phone and computer. One weekend i went up to the country with my family where there was no phone service or internet service. I freaked out at first but then i realized i had so many opportunities to take over mother nature. For four days we found new things to do and the thought of not having no type of service didn't bother me much.
I think we have this mentality that we want to keep up so much with others around us. We cant just focus solely on what we are doing. Also these social networking sites are turning into much more. They are now being used by businesses as a marketing tool. As something happens to their business they need to be on there phones constantly updating. Social media and texting is becoming a form of life and more and more people are finding new ways to use them.
KARINA GUTIERREZ
If I were challenged today for not texting, tweeting, or Facebooking for a week or longer than that, it would be really harsh to live. I can be used to it after few days and of course I can survive without it, but I would become antisocial. However, ban using cellphones during classes and any other social medias during using computers in school, I don't think it would be a bad idea. I mean I understand their position kind of.
ReplyDeleteeven in my home country, schools and teachers are having a lot of troubles with the distraction from cellphones. It distracts students to pay attention to classes.
ReplyDeleteWe actually take the cell phones away from those who got caught of using it during the class and unfortunately, it is really upto the instructors when to give it back to the students.
I think that without cell phones or checking social networking sites for one week would be hard to handle but I have done that before. It is difficult because because a person is kind of just unplugged from the social network. Life would probably less hectic and less insane without the constant buzzing of the cellphones and the notifications of facebook and emails. But I think one of the set backs would be that we wouldn't be as up to date with our emails and news as everyone is right now when everyone can just check anything in the palm of their hands.
ReplyDeleteYears before the internet and cellphones, people were able to survive, so wouldn't we be able to as well?
When I think of the world without cell phones, email or social networking sites I think of an easier and less stressed world. These days almost everything is communicated via internet or cell phone. It is terrible to think that almost everyone in some way or another is connected at all times. A week without cell phones or social networking sites would be very hard to handle in some ways. For me I am not a big fan of the social networking sites so I think I would be able to handle that party very well. On the other hand my blackberry is like a part of my life and keeps me connected at all times. There are times where I turn off my computer and my phone and I feel less stressed knowing no one can reach me unless they physically come and talk to me. In reality, even when people are sleeping they are connected, they have their cellphone on or email running so when they wake up they can immediately check it. Overall when I think back to the past way before I was around it seems everything worked the same if not better without cellphones and social networking sites.
ReplyDeleteIts a little crazy to think what our world has come to in terms of our lives revolving around technological advances such as cell phones and social networking sites. Almost everyone I know has their cell phone accessible to them at all times, whether it be right next to their head when they sleep, in their hand all day or in their pocket. Rarely you'll find someone who doesn't have their cell phone on them. Personally, I'm not sure I could go an entire week without my cell phone. People used to live in a world without these phones, and now a day it is considered unsafe to not have a cell phone with you at all times. As far as social networking sites, they have completely changed society in general. People lack major communication and social skills because their entire social life is no longer based on face-to-face interactions, but rather behind a computer updating statuses, posting pictures (portraying images you'd want people to see) and commenting on other peoples lives. Some people's entire social lives now reside on the internet. People can create a life and personality for themselves via social networking sites that really doesn't correlate with their true self. I believe some of these sites generate hate; people make nasty comments and post it on the internet via social networking sites for anyone to see, and it can really have a detrimental affect on a person emotionally. It is scary to think that some people could not go a day without using social networking sites, let alone a week. Personally, I would love it if the world could go back to a simpler time where there were no social networking sites. Unfortunately that is extremely unlikely and maybe it's just easier to conform.....
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