The "study" is that they asked teachers, "Hey, how's it been going?" and the teachers answered, "I feel like my students are paying attention more now."
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Who better to poll than teachers for this type of study? They are the ones in the trenches and can gauge the results.
You shouldn't poll anyone, instead look at test results. If there is better focus, it'll improve learning outcomes like test scores, graduation rates, and reduces instances of cheating. IMO, if we poll anyone, it should be parents about how much assistance they give their kids (i.e. are they filling in the gaps in their education less?).
It's nice that teachers think kids are paying more attention, but that only matters if kids are learning more.
That's another type of study that is also worthwhile. But the effects of distracted students on teachers and the classroom as a whole is also relevant.
Sure, I just don't trust results from subjective studies, unless it's tracking trends over time. So maybe if they had opinion polls like this before smartphones were a thing in classrooms, while smartphones were a thing, and after they were banned I'd trust the results somewhat. But if we're just tracking an after-the-fact poll, it just feels like confirmation bias. I believe teachers have an incentive to overstate the impact of policies that give them more control, because they want to encourage more such policies, even if they aren't effective at achieving tangible results.
So yeah, I distrust this type of study. I don't think it's necessarily worthless, I just don't think many conclusions can be taken from it.
You can conclude that teachers experience a better classroom environment. There was also 1/3 that did observe academic improvement.
E: Also, a teachers subjective experience is still an objective result if you are considering the qol aspect of the policy.
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Yes, but there's a huge degree of bias whenever you ask people anything. Obviously teachers are going to think phones are detrimental to class focus, and thus they're more likely to say their ban helped with that same focus
Same thing If you asked students, but reversed
Both great metrics to have, true.
Yeah, like, if you're just gonna ask someone, they'd be the ones to ask.
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Polling professionals and experts on their opinions is perfectly reasonable to publish as a preliminary study on a subject
It's a sensible first step.
Sure, but it is not a study general public, like us on lemmy, should care about. It needs a follow up before making decisions.
Yet you can already see people calling for phone bans...
It is absolutely relevant enough to be published publicly.
Yet you can already see people calling for phone bans...
Yes, because they should've been banned 10 years ago
Based on what data?
At my middle school, we also banned smartphones throughout the whole building. You were meant to either leave yours at home or put it in your locker when you got there. It's a lot easier to chat with people during the breaks when they're not face-down in their phone screen.
Have the iPads and laptops not been collected?
They were always collected when not in use. We don't get personal devices, we either go to the computer room, where every screen can be seen by the teacher at once a la panopticon, or we get a trolley full of laptops that we hand in at the end of the lesson. You can also BYOD that isn't a smartphone, so long as you don't use it during lesson time when the teacher doesn't permit it.
Thank you, now it's clear. Our phones were taken away, but half the class was staring at their tablets )
So they're saying removing distractions improves focus? Woah dude, spoiler warning!
How were they ever allowed?
I was in school from the transition from no mobiles at all to smart phones. If you got caught with one it was whipped off you.
At my school, they only cared if you used it, and you'd be forced to put it away if caught. A lot of my friends had phones, but they weren't allowed to use them in class, and it was treated like any other gadget like a gameboy.
I don't believe in bans (kids can use them between classes), but I also believe kids shouldn't use any devices in class.
What next?
What?
Really? Slippery slope argument?
This is a good thing, take it
Next they pay attention and learn algebra
I am shocked they allowed them in school tbh. They were not allowed at school for millennials. Granted phones were new but all the flip phones and such were not allowed at schools.
Born on Europe on 1985. We never had a ban on phones (later "feature phones"). We couldn't use them in class, same as the game boy, a comic or a Walkman.
Now schools force Chromebooks/ewaste with laughable restrictions.
I'm absolutely in favor of schools disallowing use of phones in class, but I'm against them being banned. If kids want to use them between classes, that's fine, as long as they don't use them in class.
They where in NL though, you just wheren't allowed to have them in class. But a lot of people here cycle to school and sometimes though roads that aren't that safe so in that case it was handy to have a mobile phone to call with.
I was super shocked when I saw kids using their phones and laptops in class. When I was in school, the moment your phone went off it was confiscated and you had to pay to get it back at the end of the day. It created this culture amongst the kids that no matter who you were, if your phone went off, people will have coughing fits and make noise to cover it up. Super funny every time it happened too.
As a 1998 French Zoomer, they were never allowed in class, and only allowed at recess in high school.
Wow, no way, I never would have thought )
Who would have thought?
With nothing else but the blank walls and the cruel clock now students have nowhere else to turn to to pass the time but listening to teacher blab his time-filling spiel. If they're very lucky, the students might learn a single thing that matters before days end, but of course that remains exceedingly unlikely.
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