Cyber Safety in the News
How A Connecticut Middle School Won The Battle Against Cellphones
The Washington Post, May 1, 2024
What unfolded at Illing Middle School in Manchester, Connecticut reflects a broader struggle underway in education as some administrators turn to increasingly drastic measures to limit the reach of a technology that is both ubiquitous and endlessly distracting.
Scores of schools across the country, from California to Indiana to Pennsylvania, have taken similar steps to remove cellphones altogether rather than rely on rules around their use.
Introducing Yondr pouches to the schools was a tough sell at first for both the students and parents. Although after a few months of using the pouches, the results have all been positive ones. We are hearing about more and more schools using options like these to curb smartphone addiction and distractions throughout the school day.
Gen Zers Are Snapping Up Flip Phones. They Might Be Onto Something.
Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2024
When Sammy Palazzolo goes out, people constantly ask to see her phone. The 18-year-old often obliges, flipping it open and handing it over.
In late 2022, Ms. Palazzolo and some of her dorm-mates at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were bemoaning their smartphone addictions. “We were talking about how we [felt] like slaves to our phones, like robots who keep scrolling and scrolling, even when we’re out at parties.” The group hatched a plan to do something about it. The next day, they went flip-phone shopping.
Students that are paying attention have noticed that their traditional smartphones are just too distracting, and they are looking for a solution. Many say they have found that solution in a flip phone.
Biden Signs Bill To Protect Children From Online Sexual Abuse And Exploitation
Techcrunch, May 7, 2024
President Biden officially signed the REPORT Act into law on Tuesday. This marks the first time that websites and social media platforms are legally obligated to report crimes related to federal trafficking, grooming, and enticement of children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline.
Under the new law, companies that intentionally neglect to report child sex abuse material on their site will suffer a hefty fine. Although the new law cannot solve the problem entirely, it is progress towards solutions to the online dangers students face every day on their devices.
A Teacher Did All He Could To Keep Kids Off Phones. He’s Quitting In Frustration.
The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2024
Mitchell Rutherford has taught biology at a public high school for 11 years and has faced a crisis of confidence as smartphones took over his Arizona classroom and students lost the motivation to learn. He’s quitting after this semester because he’s tired of trying to engage students who are lost in their phones. Mr. Rutherford says phones in the classroom have made it too hard to teach.
Schools across the country are losing teachers for a variety of reasons, and sometimes, phones factor into decisions to leave. Dozens of teachers have indicated they spend more time policing kids’ phone use than they do teaching. For Rutherford, a 35-year-old teacher who once embraced technology, seeing kids checked out and, in his view, addicted, robbed him of the joy of teaching. A crisis of teacher loss on a grand scale across the country could lead schools to enforce stronger cell phone policies across campus.
CNN, May 29, 2024
There is a growing movement of young people who are urging lawmakers to protect children whose parents monetize their images, videos and private lives on social media. Many students say that their parent’s oversharing has taken a toll on their mental health, and that they live in a reality in which a digital footprint they didn’t create follows them around for the rest of their life.
The young advocates are calling for financial compensation for these children, and their right to delete unwanted content when they become adults.
Many students share with us that they wish their parents didn’t post so much about them on social media, especially when they were younger and could not give consent. The term “sharenting” is a mashup of sharing and parenting involving the publicizing of kids’ personal information online, usually on social media. We encourage students to have conversation with their parents regarding how to manage their images online. Additionally, we remind parents that we cannot ask behavior of our children that we do not model for them.
