Phones Buzz in Class—With Texts From Mom and Dad

Phones Buzz in Class—With Texts From Mom and Dad - Schools are instituting phone bans to cut down on classroom distractions; ‘My mother texts me all the time’
By Julie Jargon, wsj.com, Updated 3 Sept. 2019 - extracts from article

Illustration: Veronica Grech

Cellphone usage in class is getting so out of control that some schools are locking up students’ phones during the day. Here’s a notification for you parents: You’re partly to blame.

Students, teachers and administrators say parents light up their kids’ phones throughout the day with text messages. Students tell me they feel obligated to reply to their parents quickly, even if the text isn’t urgent.

“Out of all people, you’d think your parents don’t want you on your phone,” said Darya Iranmanesh, a 16-year-old in Lexington, Mass. “My mother texts me all the time.”

Read more »