So many people fall for the screen meme when figuring things out. As a professional web developer (but not a designer) sketching out a page or component on paper is the best way to figure things...
So many people fall for the screen meme when figuring things out. As a professional web developer (but not a designer) sketching out a page or component on paper is the best way to figure things out. I've seen a handful of people assume they need to jump right into Figma. It's a waste of time. Pen and paper is the most intuitive way to accomplish quite a lot of tasks. I love computers, but don't put silicon between you and your ideas unless it's actually necessary. Kids need computers the least of all of us.
Bring back computer labs. Seriously. You get one period a day to use the computer. Anything you want to look up has to be done in that timeframe. Bring back the analog classroom: you have to note...
Bring back computer labs.
Seriously.
You get one period a day to use the computer. Anything you want to look up has to be done in that timeframe.
Bring back the analog classroom: you have to note and ponder a question without the instant gratification of being able to search online immediately.
It's actually quite fun as an adult too. When you go grocery shopping, live like it's 1994:
Leave your phone at home. Bring a notebook and a pencil. Turn off your car's infortainment system (a blank menu screen works well), and just jot notes if you are curious about something.
Hard mode: Do this in a city at night.
One night, I meandered out my door to vent some anger. I ended up stumbling my way to an open mic poetry night at a freelance graphics studio. I wouldn't have ever ended up there if I had my phone to distract me.
I graduated high school a bit over 10 years ago and I am shocked that these seem to be gone already. In middle school our teachers would book time in one of several computer labs. In highschool, a...
Bring back computer labs.
I graduated high school a bit over 10 years ago and I am shocked that these seem to be gone already. In middle school our teachers would book time in one of several computer labs. In highschool, a significant portion of the library was the computer lab, and if teachers wanted students to use computers, they booked time in that. Even the argument that was made in the article about "tech is the future so kids should be learning it as soon as possible" doesn't hold water because there is a difference between being given a computer and the computer classes that I had back in elementary school (All the Right Type anyone?). There is a difference between learning a computer and using a computer, and I feel like now they are given computers, but do not understand it.
Leave your phone at home.
More people need to do this. People can wait a few hours to contact you
Just a few years ago, America’s public schools were rushing to get every child a laptop. Los Angeles middle school teacher Anna Soffer remembers it well: “The idea was that technology is the future, so we need to put tech in every child’s hands.”
Now, the conversation has flipped. After pouring billions of dollars into laptops, tablets and learning apps, many schools are facing a digital reckoning. Classrooms have become saturated with screens, and a growing number of parents, teachers and school districts are saying it is time to scale back.
A sweeping resolution passed last month by the Los Angeles school board requires the district to eliminate devices until second grade; set daily and weekly screen limits for all higher grades; block YouTube on school devices; and ban the use of devices at lunch and recess in elementary and middle school. The district will also audit its education technology contracts, which the teachers union says amount to $1.6 billion.
The Los Angeles crackdown is adding momentum to calls for reform emerging around the country. In many cases, parents lobbied a few years ago for school cellphone bans, which have now become the norm. Realizing phones weren’t the only classroom distraction, they pivoted to a new target: school-issued devices.
YouTube shouldn't have been allowed on school devices in the first place. In the article, it seems like most of the issues stem from "school"devices being used for all kinds of entertainment. If...
block YouTube on school devices
YouTube shouldn't have been allowed on school devices in the first place. In the article, it seems like most of the issues stem from "school"devices being used for all kinds of entertainment. If it's a school device it should be used for educational stuff and nothing else.
Back in my day (when we walked uphill both ways), even flip phones weren't allowed in schools. It's pretty insane to me that kids these days are apparently watching YouTube and playing Minecraft...
Back in my day (when we walked uphill both ways), even flip phones weren't allowed in schools. It's pretty insane to me that kids these days are apparently watching YouTube and playing Minecraft in class. While valuable tools, class is... for listening to a teacher and learning, no?
Yeah, to exaggerate a bit, this feels like banning books in class because kids were reading ahead instead of listening or banning paper because kids were drawing.
Yeah, to exaggerate a bit, this feels like banning books in class because kids were reading ahead instead of listening or banning paper because kids were drawing.
Yeah, it was like that as recently as 2020 in my country as far as I'm concerned. If you were caught with a phone it usually would be confiscated by the teachers. Or at least that's what I know...
Yeah, it was like that as recently as 2020 in my country as far as I'm concerned. If you were caught with a phone it usually would be confiscated by the teachers. Or at least that's what I know second-hand from the youths.
Can't say around half of my teachers were any good at their job, though...
Absolutely but unrestricted YouTube, which it sounds like what they got, is just asking for kids to be distracted. If they don't have a way to filter the videos kids can access it's better to not...
Absolutely but unrestricted YouTube, which it sounds like what they got, is just asking for kids to be distracted. If they don't have a way to filter the videos kids can access it's better to not allow it at all.
So many people fall for the screen meme when figuring things out. As a professional web developer (but not a designer) sketching out a page or component on paper is the best way to figure things out. I've seen a handful of people assume they need to jump right into Figma. It's a waste of time. Pen and paper is the most intuitive way to accomplish quite a lot of tasks. I love computers, but don't put silicon between you and your ideas unless it's actually necessary. Kids need computers the least of all of us.
Bring back computer labs.
Seriously.
You get one period a day to use the computer. Anything you want to look up has to be done in that timeframe.
Bring back the analog classroom: you have to note and ponder a question without the instant gratification of being able to search online immediately.
It's actually quite fun as an adult too. When you go grocery shopping, live like it's 1994:
Leave your phone at home. Bring a notebook and a pencil. Turn off your car's infortainment system (a blank menu screen works well), and just jot notes if you are curious about something.
Hard mode: Do this in a city at night.
One night, I meandered out my door to vent some anger. I ended up stumbling my way to an open mic poetry night at a freelance graphics studio. I wouldn't have ever ended up there if I had my phone to distract me.
I graduated high school a bit over 10 years ago and I am shocked that these seem to be gone already. In middle school our teachers would book time in one of several computer labs. In highschool, a significant portion of the library was the computer lab, and if teachers wanted students to use computers, they booked time in that. Even the argument that was made in the article about "tech is the future so kids should be learning it as soon as possible" doesn't hold water because there is a difference between being given a computer and the computer classes that I had back in elementary school (All the Right Type anyone?). There is a difference between learning a computer and using a computer, and I feel like now they are given computers, but do not understand it.
More people need to do this. People can wait a few hours to contact you
YouTube shouldn't have been allowed on school devices in the first place. In the article, it seems like most of the issues stem from "school"devices being used for all kinds of entertainment. If it's a school device it should be used for educational stuff and nothing else.
I'm kind of playing the devil's advocate here, but youtube can be pretty educational, no?
Back in my day (when we walked uphill both ways), even flip phones weren't allowed in schools. It's pretty insane to me that kids these days are apparently watching YouTube and playing Minecraft in class. While valuable tools, class is... for listening to a teacher and learning, no?
Yeah, to exaggerate a bit, this feels like banning books in class because kids were reading ahead instead of listening or banning paper because kids were drawing.
Yeah, it was like that as recently as 2020 in my country as far as I'm concerned. If you were caught with a phone it usually would be confiscated by the teachers. Or at least that's what I know second-hand from the youths.
Can't say around half of my teachers were any good at their job, though...
Absolutely but unrestricted YouTube, which it sounds like what they got, is just asking for kids to be distracted. If they don't have a way to filter the videos kids can access it's better to not allow it at all.
Not to he flippant, but a saw can be very educational as well for carpentry, but you don't give every 10 year old one to use for whatever.