Should smartphones even be allowed in schools? Elizabeth Tracey reports
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Smartphones are ubiquitous, with over half of US children owning one by the time they are 11 years of age. Much research is emerging demonstrating just how harmful this can be, especially when phones remain in the hands of kids while they’re in school. Martin Makary, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins and public health researcher, says it’s time to just say no.
Makary: The average kid has 273 smartphone notifications in a day and there's no way you can have your attention on your phone and on the teacher in class. Teachers are leaving the classroom arguing that these smartphones are ruining the culture of learning and so one thing we can do to address the mental health crisis of kids and the learning loss from all the distraction and the teacher retention problem is to ban smartphones in the classroom. :28
Makary says apps that run on smartphones are specifically designed to be addictive, and that’s a danger to those whose brains are still developing. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.