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Comment by JeanMarcS | Hacker News Reader

Why did I had to scroll that far to finally find someone talking about the parents ! (or maybe I missed it)

For me I find it astonishing that state have to make laws for common sense. When did it made sense to parents to let their kids go to school with a tool known for its distraction impact ?

Some years ago, would you have send your kids to school with a portable tv ?

The lack of parent education and common sense is the real problem for me here.

For the record, I’m french and speaking from a french point of view, but I guess it’s the same in most countries.

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Phones do have useful purposes for children. When school is in session that purposes is limited to calling 911 (the emergency number in the US). However once school is over it lets the student tell their ride (maybe their parent, maybe someone else already arranged) exactly when soccer practice is over and arrange a meeting place.

Note very carefully that the useful uses of a phone are a small percentage of all the functions a phone offers. I've considered buying my kids a phone watch with 3 buttons: call mom, call dad, call [someone else but I can't figure out who]. Of course phone watches have been in the news for serious privacy concerns, but that is unrelated to the need.

I understand your point of view but parents managed to do without cell phones for decades and it was not a problem. Apart from the 911 example, it seems to me that parents are buying them a convenience (not sure of this word) in not having to wait 5mn more if the practice is not over when they show up.

In fact, it’s like letting the tv rise your kids because it’s easier and give you time back.

On a last point, I agree with your last statement, and I think a téléphone with 3 buttons will be the best of both worlds :)

You are correct. Convenience is the reason. So is most everything else - unless you sleep in a cave and cook over and open fire...

> Some years ago, would you have send your kids to school with a portable tv ?

That's a really good example. No, they absolutely would not have tolerated that!

The first hurdle is probably parental engagement, rather than common sense. Unfortunately we've been trying to fix it for decades.

>When did it made sense to parents to let their kids go to school with a tool known for its distraction impact ?

What makes you think parents are responsible? Most of the time they are even less responsible than their children.

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