Phone Locker
It is not that students and employees won’t put their phones away. It is that when we feel the buzz or here the tone go off, our first instinct is to look at it. Even if we don’t look at it immediately, we all wait for the opportune time to do so. And once we have that opportunity to look, we are distracted. Sometimes we start looking at one thing, and it leads us to others. The next thing you know, we are checking out all our social media. This is the distraction. Most parents, and some administrators that have been out of the classroom for a while just say, “tell them to put it in their pockets, purses, or backpacks.” That is fine. Most students will listen. They do put it away. However, they are still distracted. As an educator of 23 years, I have seen firsthand what students do. When they get a notification, they will look. Maybe not immediately, but they do. Even our best kids. Think about it. You most likely do the same thing as an adult. When a student does not have the ability to look, and respond, or surf, they don’t. It is human nature this day and age to look and respond at the opportune time.