When I was an English teacher, I fought a daily battle against cell phones. Our school had a no-phone policy: if a teacher saw it during class, they could confiscate it. But with 35 cell phones in a room, there is bound to be some texting, game-playing, and music sharing going on under the desks.
One day, I followed a group of students down to the algebra room. They had forgotten to copy down the homework assignment. They pulled out their phones, and snapped a picture of the white board. Pretty smart, I thought. No chance of copying down the wrong page number.
Teachers and principals are now posing this question: Is there a better way to incorporate cell phones into classrooms?
North Scott High School in Iowa is taking an innovative approach. Two science teachers, Jason Guerin and Mark Anderson, have started using a site called PollEverywhere to give practice tests. Guerin told the Associated Press, “It’s really neat because it engages the kids.” These two teachers project practice multiple choice questions onto an LCD screen, and students text their answers to the site. The teachers can then access the student response data. If the students do not have cell phones, they use school laptops to send in their responses.
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The Highway Loss Data Institute released a study showing that ads banning the usage of cell phones while driving have not reduced the number of accidents caused by cell phones. The study shows that there have not been reductions in the rate of accidents in New York, Connecticut, California, or Washington DC. The study looked at insurance claims before and after cell phones were banned while driving.
"The laws aren't reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk," says Adrian Lund, president of both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI.
The study also points out that in New York there was a decrease in collision claim frequencies. This decreasing trend began before the state's ban on hand-held phoning while driving and actually paused briefly when the ban took effect. Trends in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, and California didn't change.
Making it illegal for me to talk or text while driving has not stopped me from doing both. I know I’m breaking the law but unfortunately I’m so attached to my phone that I can’t help it. I do have my limits, I’ll reply to a text message if I’m at a red light or driving on the street. I’ve had moments where I had to stop drastically because I was too busy texting. Despite that I’m still texting while driving.
According to the Census Bureau more than 110 billion texts were sent during the month of December 2008, doubling the number for texts sent in December 2007. This averages out to 407 per cell phone owner. Texting is more convenient at times than calling. The research doesn’t break down the data by age. Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Internet and American Life Project says teens have a huge role in these numbers being high. Lenhart told The Huffington Post "If teens are a leader for America, then we are moving to a text-based communication system. For them, there is less interest in talking."
The Census Bureau data reinforces that kids are shaping the future of tomorrow because they are changing the way people communicate. Lenhart’s research found that teens send more than 2,000 text messages a month. Two-thirds of teens use text messages because of its simplicity and because they are able to communicate with out being heard.
Census Bureau’s findings also showed that average length of time for cell phone calls declined last year to 2.3 minutes—making it the shortest average time length since the 1990s. Monthly cell phone bills have remained around $50.
Full story on The Huffington Post
Like most teens you know, I am a texting addict. I decided to deprive myself from texting for a week-- but, could I handle it?
Each day I felt like something was missing -- the same way coffee drinkers feel without their morning coffee. I longed for the feel of the buttons underneath my fingers.
My week of no texting messed up my schedule. I was constantly receiving texts, then waiting for a convenient time to call my friends back. Often I would call back too late and miss plans.
I was fine for about two days, but then on the third, I was sick at home and under the influence of cold medicine. I got a text from a friend telling me to watch our favorite TV show. Without thinking, I pressed the letter K and with just one letter, I had broken my no texting streak.
Now that I’m back to texting, all I can say is that I’m never going to deprive myself again. Texting makes my life easier and is part of who I am.
Previously:
- Teen Drivers And Texting
- Is Texting Ruining Teen Communication Skills?
- Is Texting Ruining the English Language?
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A new survey shows that almost one-third of youth are sexting. The survey was conducted by MTV and the Associated Press. 1,247 youth between the ages 14-24 were interviewed and what they’ve admitted is shocking.
“About 61 percent report that they were pressured by someone to send the image. Girls were more likely to share a naked image of themselves than boys. Those who are already sexually active were much more likely to send an image than those who were not sexually active.”
(via Wired)
Most of the youth admitted to sending pictures to their significant other while 29 percent said they send naked pictures to someone they simply knew online. With this sharing phenomenon also came abuse—at least to the young people who responded to the survey.
Read more...“About 50 percent of youths who responded to the survey said they’ve been the victim of some form of digital abuse. The most common type of abuse was being the target of a smear campaign; about 22 percent of respondents indicated they’d been the target of lies spread through digital media. About 8 percent of respondents indicated they’d been threatened with some form of digital blackmail.”
(via Wired)
Last Sunday another act of excessive force by a police officer was caught on tape via cell phone video. Michael Joseph Gibson, 37, was drunk, yelling obscenities, and trying to start fights with passengers on a BART trains when a BART police officer went to arrest him. The passengers were relieved when the officer pulled him off the train, but were shocked to see the excessive force used by the officer. The officer not only grabbed the man without talking to him, he slammed him into the wall, and seems to have broken the glass. Check out this video for more:
This incident marks yet another time where bystanders were able to record violent police behavior. Just about everyone has a cell phone, and all the new cell phones have video capabilities. The general public are now better equipped to show what really happens and to hold police more accountable. Video is much easier to access than he said-she said testimonials. For example, it is unclear how the glass was shattered. In this video, the footage may be used to help the officer. The shattered glass injured both Gibson and the Officer. Gibson is now in Santa Rita Jail.
Many people are afraid to speak out against police violence, especially police violence. But now, to be a fair witness all you need to do is flip your cell phone open.
(Via: SF Gate)
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Bus after bus passed before me.
I was leaning against a fence after school, absorbed in a minute-by-minute ritual: texting my friend about my day.
I looked up, and my bus was nowhere in sight. Late buses are a routine occurrence in Los Angeles, so I kept texting away, figuring I'd see the shadow of the bus on the sidewalk.
While my thumbs banged away on my phone's keypad, I paid no attention to the people around me.
Again, I looked up for a moment and saw my bus approaching, so I started walking toward it.
Out of nowhere, it seems, some guy put his forearm on my neck and pushed me back against the fence I was leaning on.
He grabbed my phone, but there was no way I was going to let him pry it out of my hand.
I did what any self-respecting person would do.
I punched him in the face.
