I am most assuredly an educator across the PreK — adult pipeline. Pop into my website at www.karengrosseducation.com and www.VTL4today..com. We can have different experiences for sure and yes, phones can be disruptive and misused. We can agree to disagree.

My overall point is enabling students to use the cellphones well, not to ban them. That doesn’t enable learning to handle cellphones. Way better to get students to volunteer giving them up as opposed to a mandate. And, for the record, what is easier is not always better. I’ve written other pieces on cellphone use and ChatGPT.

I’ve tried many approaches to cellphones and students, including at dinners at my home, classes, events. I want students to see themselves that engaging with classmates has value. I want them to see engaging with me has value. They have to want it.

By the by, as an added note, since judgment and wise decision making are learned and brains don’t develop those skills fully til ages 25–28 or so, we can help the process. Yes, we can help by enabling students to make better decisions rather than making those decisions for them.

Perhaps educator you know all agree with you. I’ve encountered many others who don’t. I don’t need to convince everyone; I want instead to get people to try creative new approaches with cellphones and AI — new pedagogies. And as to meanness, banning cell phones doesn’t get to the root of that behavior. Banning is a soft solution to deeper needs to develop empathy and compassion and activate mirror neurons.

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