Victorian government bans school kids from using mobile phones

Jul 16, 2015
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25-30 is fringe. If you are 30 now you might have avoided smartphones in high school altogether.

30-35 year olds are the real winners. We managed life without mobile phones at all for the most part as kids let alone smartphones. It's really sad the things I can do that people 5-10 years younger than me can't. Like pick up a UBD/Melway book and find and address. Or do basic mental maths. Or eat a meal without taking a photograph of it. I can go to a train station and look at a map and a timetable and work out that it will take me 15-20 minutes to get from Pascoe Vale to Flinders St and then I'll need to get on the Epping Line and go about 10 stops if I want to get to Preston. Crazy I know, I can do that without a phone. Meanwhile my old man who is not a mechanic and probably hasn't done anything beyond an oil change for about 30 years could probably still service a car with a points ignition. My generation kinda sucks but man does the next one coming through make us look good.

The iPhone came out in 2007, so if you are 25 now you were 13 then. Mobile phones were already ubiquitous so chances are you went through most if not all of high school with a smartphone. Any younger than that and you probably had one in primary school. I've seen toddlers walk up to TV screens and start tapping them. Not just random 'don't touch that' sticky hand movements, deliberate attempts to change the channel because they already associate screens with swiping and tapping to get what you want. **** knows how that generation will turn out.

One of the perks of smartphones is that you can use them for directions etc. the old school way isn’t automatically better because you know how to do it.

And of course they do, they are toddlers. Did you know everything about the world when you were a toddler? Give me a spell. If teens are doing that, then worry.
 

mouncey2franklin

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'If the teachers can do it the students should be able to do it'

'If guys on bigfooty can post on bigfooty then kids should be allowed to use phones at school'.

This is a moronic thought process.

Look up 'false equivalence' and think. Try to think.
 
Jun 12, 2009
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25-30 is fringe. If you are 30 now you might have avoided smartphones in high school altogether.

30-35 year olds are the real winners. We managed life without mobile phones at all for the most part as kids let alone smartphones. It's really sad the things I can do that people 5-10 years younger than me can't. Like pick up a UBD/Melway book and find and address. Or do basic mental maths. Or eat a meal without taking a photograph of it. I can go to a train station and look at a map and a timetable and work out that it will take me 15-20 minutes to get from Pascoe Vale to Flinders St and then I'll need to get on the Epping Line and go about 10 stops if I want to get to Preston. Crazy I know, I can do that without a phone. Meanwhile my old man who is not a mechanic and probably hasn't done anything beyond an oil change for about 30 years could probably still service a car with a points ignition. My generation kinda sucks but man does the next one coming through make us look good.
Doesn't this go both ways? There are probably teenagers who would consider you to be an idiot because you don't know how to design an app in Xcode. I don't think your mad skillz in being able to read the Melways will be particularly useful in 10 years' time.

The kids will be alright.
 
Jul 16, 2015
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Doesn't this go both ways? There are probably teenagers who would consider you to be an idiot because you don't know how to design an app in Xcode. I don't think your mad skillz in being able to read the Melways will be particularly useful in 10 years' time.

The kids will be alright.

You know what’s a disgrace? Everyone here is so bloody lazy owning a car and using it to get from point a to point b. What happened to the good old days where everyone used a horse and cart? That was so much better
 

mouncey2franklin

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Doesn't this go both ways? There are probably teenagers who would consider you to be an idiot because you don't know how to design an app in Xcode.
Be honest with yourswelf, what proportion of teenagers today can do that?

The lengths that some people in this thread are going to defend smart phone addiction...

Talk about clutching at straws.

I haven't seen this level of defensiveness since the time I suggested to some pot heads that weed is not really medicine.
 
You know what’s a disgrace? Everyone here is so bloody lazy owning a car and using it to get from point a to point b. What happened to the good old days where everyone used a horse and cart? That was so much better
We still have that in Adelaide.
 
Jul 16, 2015
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Be honest with yourswelf, what proportion of teenagers today can do that?

The lengths that some people in this thread are going to defend smart phone addiction...

Talk about clutching at straws.

I haven't seen this level of defensiveness since the time I suggested to some pot heads that weed is not really medicine.

I agree with the point that smart phone usage can be an addiction and can be used wrongly

I don’t agree that they are a bane on society and useless.

When used correctly, they are incredibly useful.

Why use a melways when you can plug an address in your phone? Even my Boomer parents do it ffs. It’s faster and more efficient. Much like using a car instead of a horse and cart.
 

craigos

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Be honest with yourswelf, what proportion of teenagers today can do that?

The lengths that some people in this thread are going to defend smart phone addiction...

Talk about clutching at straws.

I haven't seen this level of defensiveness since the time I suggested to some pot heads that weed is not really medicine.
It does have medicinal properties though. Ripping a couple of cones for breakfast isn't doing anything real healthy but
 

ioppolo

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Kids are addicted to their phones but parents who use the phones to parent their kids are the worst. Spend some time with the kids ffs
 
There's always something that's said to rot the brain of a generation. For my folks it was the rock and roll, music, violent video games have been copping it for years now, some were sure television would addle my generation's brain. Time for the smartphone to cop I suppose.
 
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Now you are going down the strawman path.

Misrepresenting what other people are saying.

Is this how you normally interact with other people?

This went off topic and Scotty was saying how it’s s**t that kids use their phones for directions rather than a melways.

I’m pointing out even my parents don’t use melways anymore. Using the phone as a tool is not harmful.

People here are acting as if smart phones are worse than cigarettes. Not even close, at least smartphones can be put to good use.
 
Jun 12, 2009
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Be honest with yourswelf, what proportion of teenagers today can do that?

The lengths that some people in this thread are going to defend smart phone addiction...

Talk about clutching at straws.

I haven't seen this level of defensiveness since the time I suggested to some pot heads that weed is not really medicine.
Who's defending smart phone addiction? Obviously a kid sitting in class browsing Facebook for 2 hours isn't a good thing. Phones can have a much broader use than that in the class. I have no problem with individual schools or teachers banning them if they don't see a use for them.

And plenty of kids know how to code these days, as they should. I was learning HTML and CSS and playing around in Visual Basic at school 10 years ago and I can only imagine there's been a lot of advancement since then.
 
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There's always something that's said to rot the brain of a generation. For my folks it was the rock and roll, music, violent video games have been copping it for years now, some were sure television would addle my generation's brain. Time for the smartphone to cop I suppose.

I'd say TV and video games have had a net negative benefit on society
 
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I'd say TV and video games have had a net negative benefit on society

Video games can also be beneficial. Problem solving, hand eye coordination etc.

The mediums are never the issue, it’s how people use them.

Generally people who actually become are addicted are a minority. Might be different for smartphones and social media but it’s the case for games, tv etc
 
I know that FOMO is nothing new but I never used to wake up at 3am to check my 'socials' in case I missed a snap. It's crazy. The problem is that this **** is now accessible 24 hours a day, the kids can't escape or they're ostracised.
I have an auto DnD on my phone, so between 10pm-8am no notifications, when I go to bed early I realise how pervasive notifications are and I have most turned off anyway as nothing is that important if it isn't a phone call.

A few years ago I was walking down from level 4 at the G via the stairs.

old mate in front of me who would have been mid 70s almost fell down every flight of stairs because he'd shuffle to it looking at his phone, almost go over the first step, stop and put his phone in his pocket to struggle down the stairs holding on the rail, get to the bottom, stop and pull his phone out of his pocket and start shuffling while looking at the screen again, rinse and repeat all the way down
 

Dav

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I find it amusing when the older generation criticize kids' behaviours when it's the older generation who raised them. Kids aren't born with a propensity to use their phones.
 
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I find it amusing when the older generation criticize kids' behaviours when it's the older generation who raised them. Kids aren't born with a propensity to use their phones.

Older people: Don’t go anywhere without your phone! What else are you going to do in an emergency??

Next minute: You kids cannot live without those damn phones!
 

Dav

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Older people: Don’t go anywhere without your phone! What else are you going to do in an emergency??

Next minute: You kids cannot live without those damn phones!

I also feel as if parents relent far too early, because kids will almost always want to use phones from as early an age as possible. All it takes is for one rich or spoiled kid to have a phone at age 10 and all their friends will pester their parents. I didn't have a phone until I was in Year 9 which is later than pretty much everyone I knew, and my sisters are the same. Phone once you're old enough for it to really matter ie old enough to get a job
 
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I have an auto DnD on my phone, so between 10pm-8am no notifications, when I go to bed early I realise how pervasive notifications are and I have most turned off anyway as nothing is that important if it isn't a phone call.

A few years ago I was walking down from level 4 at the G via the stairs.

old mate in front of me who would have been mid 70s almost fell down every flight of stairs because he'd shuffle to it looking at his phone, almost go over the first step, stop and put his phone in his pocket to struggle down the stairs holding on the rail, get to the bottom, stop and pull his phone out of his pocket and start shuffling while looking at the screen again, rinse and repeat all the way down
I do the same.
 
May 5, 2006
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Doesn't this go both ways? There are probably teenagers who would consider you to be an idiot because you don't know how to design an app in Xcode. I don't think your mad skillz in being able to read the Melways will be particularly useful in 10 years' time.

The kids will be alright.

You are assuming I can't do that. You can teach a monkey to push buttons, but that's not the same as understanding the mechanics behind whatever it is those buttons control. 'But smartphones have calculators' is the reason why when a til goes down cafe staff stand there looking gormless trying to work out what $4.20 + $3.50 adds up to and how much change is required from $10.

Not only can I read a Melways, I can change a tyre and do basic auto maintenance and repairs. I consider myself at some advantage to someone who is rendered useless by a flat phone battery or driving 5 minutes out of range. But I'm sure the RACV app (I assume there is one) comes in handy in the middle of nowehere.
 
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I'd say TV and video games have had a net negative benefit on society

Definitely.

Difference being is that TV and video games are less pervasive. I still have a couple of (older) consoles but if I'm playing a game it will be half an hour or an hour of game time and that's it. Other than feelings of intense rage and injustice (which pass) playing a few rounds of Mario Kart has zero impact on the remainder of my week.

Phones now are more like TV on during dinner, except more individual and interactive. I watch Youtube and browse Facebook and stuff on the train to pass the time and that's not worlds apart from reading a book or a newspaper but if you read a book you stop reading it once you get off the train. You don't walk along with a book in front of your face while walking across traffic and you don't get home and have 'So how was your day love?' chats with your wife and constantly pick up the book and read a paragraph mid sentence. You put the book down and then go and pick it up again later when you have time to read. If you had a book in one hand and a smartphone in the other I imagine it would be hard to really focus on the book.
 

mouncey2franklin

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Video games can also be beneficial. Problem solving, hand eye coordination etc.
'Problem solving'? 'Hand eye coordination'?

What the hell are you talking about?

People sit on their fat asses and stare at a screen while they play video games.

How far and how quickly the masses have regressed.

When I was a kid -- and I'm only 31 -- everybody knew that video games were at best a distraction and at worst a mind rotting tool.

Now people seem to genuinely believe video games are somehow good for you.
 
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