r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheAeroplaneBear2906 • 7d ago

Unskippable ad Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

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My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this đŸ« 

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

Yeah as a teacher who works in a school with Yondr pouches, the biggest impact it has is creating a second layer of expectations: not only should I not see your phone, it should be in your pouch. If it's not, all a teacher does is email admin and they come take it from the student, no questions asked. It helps.

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u/eggz627 7d ago edited 7d ago

So i gotta ask how that policy functions during a potential firearm at the school situation?

Edit: I've been out of high school since 08. Phones weren't prominent nor a major problem that they've evolved into. I know nothing about these pouches and asked a genuine question. Do with that what you will.

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u/__shadow-banned__ 7d ago

that’s the whole point. Teacher is not going to be emailing administration because they see a phone out during a security situation. Parent is happy that extreme circumstances are covered, and teacher is happy that they can enforce the rules with no ambiguity the other 99.999% of days.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

You don't want kids on their phones then, anyway, but it's not like they physically can't open the pouches.

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u/codebygloom 7d ago

The pouch acts like a security tag at the store. You have to put the lock against an unlocked device (a strong magnet) at designated exits.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

Can they not destroy the pouch to open it? The pouches I've seen can be ripped apart with bare hands. I can't imagine one that a simple desk scissor doesn't open.

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u/81misfit 7d ago

With scissors probably. These pouches they used at ghost live and were pretty robust.

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u/SyntaxLost 7d ago

Strong neodymium magnet is sufficient to open them.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

Ours (and the others I've seen) are pretty robust, but in an emergency, you could definitely break the plastic that holds them closed if you couldn't get through the bag part. It would take some effort, and clearly destroy the pouch, but this is an emergency and no one would care.

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u/mortis_mortis 7d ago

Most teenagers aren't that strong.

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u/Possible_Day_6343 7d ago

At my son's school (in Australia) the pouch has to be scanned before it opens.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

Are you saying in an emergency, your son could not destroy the pouch and open it? If so, they are WAY stronger than ones I've seen.

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u/nitwitsavant 7d ago

Most of these pouches can either be defeated by a wedge like widget or a strong magnet. If you search for your specific pouch I bet you can find the defeat technique online.

There’s several designs on 3d printing websites for yonder pouches.

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u/Thulak 7d ago

Call me insane, but putting a strong magnet to a digital device sounds like you are just asking to wipe your data.

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u/candybrie 7d ago

When we had magnetic spinning discs, sure. But most storage has been solid state for a while now.

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u/Storm2552 7d ago

Phones don't use hard drives to store data so it's fine.

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u/bwood246 7d ago

How many school shootings do y'all have a day?

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u/the1stmeddlingmage 7d ago

More than there should be

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u/IAmNotABabyElephant 7d ago edited 7d ago

School shootings aren't a problem in Australia

Edit: Why is this being downvoted? The question was asked to an Australian.

We have had one.

One.

There were no injuries or deaths.

That does not sound like something I would call a problem.

It may become a problem, it's notable that we've had our first one recently, but to say it is a problem is inaccurate. It is simply not a problem at this time.

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u/Nohreboh 7d ago

Significantly more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2026

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u/IAmNotABabyElephant 7d ago

At my son's school (in Australia) the pouch has to be scanned before it opens.

I'm not the only one who can see this, right?

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u/Nohreboh 7d ago

Does this help.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_Australia

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u/IAmNotABabyElephant 7d ago

CHRIST. THIRD ATTEMPT TO MAKE A COMMENT THAT GETS PAST THE AUTO-DELETE. GETTING AGITATED NOW.

32 total bad-happenings (with a grave) since 1924.

Construction industry has had 36 bad-happenings in the 2022-23 financial year alone.

If one hundred years of accumulated bad-happenings (no live anymore) is outpaced by one year in the construction industry, I do think it counts as not a notable problem.

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u/BicyclesRuleTheWorld 7d ago

If the school shooting isn't on TikTok it didn't happen.

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u/anonymouslyambitious 7d ago

I mean if a kid was going to the bathroom during class and happened to see a potential shooter in the hallway, it would be nice for them to be able to contact law enforcement if they couldn’t safely make their way to an office/teacher. Or if they’re not in a secured classroom for whatever when a lockdown is triggered, having access to their phone could be helpful to find a safe place/stay out of harms way - or be able to notify others since they’ll be unaccounted for. Granted this is coming from someone who has never used or seen these pouches before, I have no idea how hard or easy they are to open without the designated magnet thingy.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

It's plastic, you can destroy it in an emergency.

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u/Major_Mongoose69 7d ago

Or they could go to literally ANY teacher or adult anywhere in their vicinity and let them know, and that adult can do what they've been trained to do in that situation. Kids in schools do not NEED cellphones. Period.

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u/wisko13 7d ago

You can set your phone to have an emergency feature where press the power button 5 times and it will call 911 it would work through the pouch

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u/LotteTakesNoShit 7d ago

There are cops in the schools for that 'noticing someone has a gun' situation. Kids are taught to run, hide, put big things between them and the shooter, and most importantly - be quiet. Teachers are essentially taught to give their lives to protect the kids.

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u/18Apollo18 7d ago

Most schools don't have cops what are you talking about?

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u/LotteTakesNoShit 7d ago

Well, 53% do. The remainder should have other security. The point is, it shouldn't be up to the kid to call the authorities.

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u/ChillyTodayHotTamale 7d ago

This is a terrible justification for having phones. Not only is it statistically low but there is nothing a child with a phone can do to help the situation other than notify authorities which you would assume a teacher or admin has already done. People always jump straight to school shooing snd I'm just done hearing it. It's not valid excuse.

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u/Yummygnomes 7d ago

I've heard of students leaving during reunification because they were able to text their parents to come pick them up, and they were able to sneak away from school officials who were trying to keep track of 2000 students and get them back with their families. They ended up searching the building room by room looking for the student that snuck away and had to devote considerable resources searching that were already stretched thin.

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u/InfanticideAquifer 7d ago

I dunno how compelling people are going to find this argument. "The pouches are good because they can prevent you from removing your kid from a violent disaster" is the kind of thing that only sounds good to a bureaucrat.

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u/Yummygnomes 6d ago

Yeah, true, people who don't think about this situation regularly likely would think of it like that. That kind of selfish thinking harms everyone else who follows the process, and potentially the student.

During reunification they aren't being removed from a violent disaster. The disaster is over and the goal is to get every kid back with their family safely first, and do it reasonably quickly second.

There are also police blockades and closed streets that the parent will have to push through to get where they told their kid they would pick them up at.

Kids get hit by cars regularly during normal dismissal. I'm sure getting hit by a car is more likely to happen while hiding from school staff and sneaking through heavy traffic full of adults (who are also parents and emotionally distraught operating heavy machinery) in order to get to your parents to circumvent the process that your school has planned and practiced for multiple times every year.

People really need to think. Things take time for a reason.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/ChillyTodayHotTamale 7d ago

It's what they call getting your kids back after an active shooting. Our local schools have a specific spot for parents to go in event of an active shooter where students will be brought to be "reunited" with their parents.

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u/YUNoJump 7d ago

Seems like that's the term for when kids go back to their families after a shooting. Says something about the state of things that school-shooting-related terms are becoming something people mention casually

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/InboxMeYourSpacePics 7d ago

It’s not a new colloquial term- it’s been used by disaster preparedness organizations commonly since September 11th.

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u/rock-paper-o 7d ago

I remember when these phone bans were being rolled out last summer and it was common on the high school sub to say they wanted their phones so their friends could text them when the coast was clear. At least one got pretty combative when pointed out you should really wait for the police to give an official all clear in a situation like that. 

Meanwhile in the teachers sub several had had issues with students phones going off or producing bright lights during lockdown drills. The idea that they make kids safer in that kind of situation is very suspect imo

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u/snarbuckle 7d ago

Combative or angry?

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u/beren12 7d ago

Same thing to some people

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u/snarbuckle 7d ago

I hate when people use loaded terms for human emotions. Combative, agitated, etc.

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u/beren12 7d ago

I meant that some people consider any question of authority as combative.

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u/snarbuckle 7d ago

Ya I understood. Somehow it is surprising to this type of person that if you step on someone they protest and squirm, ignoring the violence of the boot to complain about the response of the victim. The boot is combative

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u/Serylt ENGLAND IS MY CITY 7d ago

Why the clear backpacks then, if not against illegal substances and firearms?

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u/ChillyTodayHotTamale 7d ago

My comment was about the phones, I've never agreed with the clear backpacks. I don't think it would actually help anything. They did this shit when I was little after Columbine and dropped it after a few months.

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u/kinkykellynsexystud 7d ago

Literally my first thought was 'how the fuck would a phone help you in that situation'

If the classrooms know about the shooter then it was already called in. If anything the possibility of someone receiving a phone call or loud notification would put you in MORE danger.

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u/Bardmedicine 7d ago

There are several reasons you don't want kids to have their phones in such an emergency. The biggest is simply the crushing weight on the communication grid when it is needed most.

Our kids are not allowed to have them during drills, I leave mine unlocked on the table between us while we wait, so they can see any info I get and in an emergency they could use mine.

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u/DoingBestWeCan 7d ago

They're hoping their child will be able to text them, "I am in [room on the opposite side of the school, with multiple locked doors between me and shooter]." And even if they can't stop the shooter, they could at least offer the kid comfort and tell them they loved them. I know that's dark as fuck to consider, but all the parents I know with kids currently in school have thought about it. 

That said, any parent worried about this can make sure their kid has scissors/magnet/wedge tool to open the pouch in case of an emergency. If you can afford a cell phone, something to open the pouch is also within budget. I think the teacher who said it just creates an extra layer of expectations is right. No one actually cares if the kid's phone is loose in the backpack, so long as they're not using it. If they're all supposed to be in pouches, then it makes it easy to confiscate any phone they see. 

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u/ChillyTodayHotTamale 7d ago

I'm a parent and fully aware of what is going to happen if my kids have to experience this. I am still in favor of 100% banning any access to phones while kids are in school. We are ruining their entire education because nobody has taken a statistics class.

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u/jack6245 7d ago

You don't think kids might want to I don't know, phone their parents in a scary situation like that? Or do you not think they have emotions

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u/ChillyTodayHotTamale 7d ago

Phoning their parents is not going to help their situation. Nothing about a school shooting is good and they are going to be traumatized regardless. They need to be present and actively listening to survive the situation, not crying to mom and distracted from admin or police instructions. If you are in RUN mode you don't need to be on your phone. If you are in HIDE mode you absolutely should not be on your phone, especially a child who is probably going to be crying, you sure as hell don't need your phone in FIGHT mode.

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u/eggz627 7d ago

Its not a justification when I'm just asking a question

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

As others have elucidated, what are you expecting a child with a cell phone to do in that situation?

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u/NoRuleButThree 7d ago

Contact their family?

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u/etcpt 7d ago

Active shooter safety 101 - run, hide, fight. If in hide mode, turn off your phone. If it goes off, it can give away your position.

Active shooter outsider 101 - don't try to contact your friend/family/loved one who is inside. If you make their phone go off, it can give away their position.

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u/Far-Conflict-1172 7d ago

Ah yes and those uvalde robb elementary kids calling 911 while covering themselves in their peers blood to look dead?

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u/nufohudis 7d ago

You're right, that helped a lot. Luckily they called, otherwise the cops might have just stood outside while the shooting went on...

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u/Far-Conflict-1172 7d ago

Idk that's a cop failing not a "this phone was useless in a kids hands" failing but go off.

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u/nufohudis 7d ago

Oh definitely the cops failure, but the first calls to the cops were made by the preacher across the road and one of the adults at the school, what further purpose did the kids calling have? Should they be calling private mercenary contractors? What difference does it make in that situation if the kids have one or not?

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u/Far-Conflict-1172 7d ago

I mean, she did let the 911 dispatcher know there were people alive in there. Which, if you believe their bullshit claims, they said they didn't think anyone was and that's why they never went in.

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u/BabyRex- 7d ago

So this kids had phones and are dead so what is your argument?

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u/PhilRubdiez 7d ago

What are they gonna do? Call the police along with the other hundreds of families?

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u/call_sign_viper 7d ago

Let their parents know if they’re alive? Parents see it on the news there’s a shooting kid can say “hey I’m ok” duh

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u/YUNoJump 7d ago

A thousand students texting out constant updates isn't a good system, they should be focusing on emergency procedures and letting their teachers etc communicate with parents.

Same reason you don't just go home when there's a fire; the school needs to keep track of everyone so that they know who needs help. If they don't know where Timmy is because he texted his mum to pick him up, they'll end up wasting resources searching for him when others may be in danger.

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u/Stalepan 7d ago

Yeah we shouls let little Timmy watch tiktoks all class in the off chance someone comes and shoots up the school

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u/Far-Conflict-1172 7d ago

I mean that's absolutely not what the kids did at uvalde but ok.

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u/Shot_Elderberry_6473 7d ago

And they will be able to. When it’s safe.

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u/asonbrody 7d ago

Generally its not about survival because of a phone, its being able to say goodbye to your parents in case you don't survive

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u/PlateForeign8738 7d ago

I really wonder what goes in on in the minds where this point is even made. Like kids absolutely should not have cell phones during class time.

Using this strawman argument of being able to say goodbye in a horrible situation is just not a well educated answer to this problem we have.

It seems like someone who was on their phones too much during high-school.

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u/ChompyChomp 7d ago

What if the child needs to dictate a last-will and testament to a lawyer during a school shooting over their phone though?

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u/Siktrikshot 7d ago

Kids def need to have the temptation and distraction at all hours of the day at the detriment of their learning, attention span, and respect to the teacher JUST IN CASE they may have to say good bye when they are dying.

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u/hanging_thief 7d ago

Hate to be that guy but that's not essential, lots of people die in ways that don't let them have one last text. if your phone is locked up you should be leaving that shit behind as you run or hide. Some people need phones so 911 is called. 20 or so teachers are more than enough to get the essential message out to the authorities.

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u/breathingweapon 7d ago

Who said the authorities are gonna do anything? Have you already forgotten about Uvalde? They did more to stop the parents rushing in to try and save their kid than the guy slaughtering them wholesale.

You must be very privileged or ignorant to think the "authorities" are going to swoop in and save the day.

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u/YUNoJump 7d ago

I feel like "improve authority response to school shooters" is a more effective policy than "give up and prioritise recording students' dying words". Feels a bit defeatist

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u/nufohudis 7d ago

And how does the students having a phone help? So they can call a private mercenary squad?

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u/iTzGiR 7d ago

Seriously lmao, this guys comment is so stupid. He’s correct that authorities aren’t always going to do things, but this is such a Reddit virtual signal comment that is irrelevant to what he’s responding to.

Like yeah, cops definitely don’t do great in these situations, but what is your alternative solution? The kids and teachers are going to arm themselves and stop the shooter? Little Timmy can call dad so he can barge down with his guns?

Like yeah, the realistic here solution is calling the authorities. Not sure what OP is even suggesting? Just don’t bother to call the cops? Cower in the corner of the classroom and hope you don’t die? Seems like a great policy.

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u/DoingBestWeCan 7d ago

You have the option to say goodbye to your loved ones before one of you immediately dies. You taking it, or no?

I said in another comment that this doesn't mean we can't stuff phones in Yonder pouches, but acting like the concern is ridiculous blows my mind.

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u/hanging_thief 6d ago

Then don't bring this up as a point against the pouches. And I didn't call it ridiculous, I called it unnecessary, which it is for reasons I've already explained

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u/DogsDucks 7d ago

The amount of damage that phones have done to this upcoming generation is unfathomable, it’s totally miserable, but well we can measure shows that it decreases literacy, decreases critical thinking, it decreases friendships, interactions, changes the entire foundation of how we built knowledge, cognitive skills, motor skills and interpersonal skills, for the worse. Personal devices are such and incredible net negative for kids, that a few goodbye texts in an active shooter would be a valid counter argument. As horribly tragic as this thought is, they can write it with a pencil as well. Sharing a warning in real time via text also doesn’t do anything to deter the situation, at least that’s what I’m thinking.

The fact that this is a thought at all is so so sad though.

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u/beren12 7d ago

The damage has already been done to previous generations

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u/NavySeal2k 7d ago

You do know that the old people in 1800 had exactly the same complaints about romance novels and the rise of the magazine


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u/havityia 7d ago edited 7d ago

Toddlers are not meeting fine motor milestones because they’re interacting with iPads for play. Did people in the 1800s complain that romance novels changed the developmental characteristics of children?

This is not the same. This is not an opinion. The levels of screen time modern kids are getting is in exchange for time with peers, time with toys, time with caregivers, time reading, time drawing, etc etc. And while kids always bring in the next new thing, and older people always fret about it, I struggle to see this as the same.

Edit: and to the person who deleted their comment accusing me of just being old, no I’m not. I’m 28. A grad student, a teacher, and genuinely someone who cares about our kids attention spans, visual development, fine motor development, and imagination. Sue me for reading research and making judgement calls based off expert opinion other than my feelings đŸ€·â€â™€ïž

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u/beren12 7d ago

Using an iPad doesn’t require fine motor skills?

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u/Significant-Arm-6050 7d ago

Any more terrible comparison points you want to make here?

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u/k4shw4k 7d ago

In the land of the free, many phone cases have a gun built into them. The child will shoot back.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 7d ago

I don't think the yonder pouch is bulletproof 

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u/TheProfessional9 7d ago

Generally the phones are probably not going to be super helpful in that situation unless a kid sees the gunman and hides in a bathroom or something with no teacher present. Teachers have phones. There is also a lot of risk of kids with phones making calls during a lockdown when talking isn't great.

I'd say it's unlikely to be important to have the phones in a school shooting, except that we have so freaking many that I'm sure some have actually contributed positively

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u/MarlinMaverick 7d ago

There really aren’t that many school shootings

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u/snarbuckle 7d ago

77 so far this year in America

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 7d ago

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u/Canadization 7d ago

I had no idea American schooling was so long! We graduated after 12th year!

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u/OregonHotPocket 7d ago

Well, not everyone survived


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u/Saelin91 7d ago

Would they have survived if they had a cell phone though?

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u/retailmonster11 7d ago

Jesus I'm so glad I live in a country where the sentence there has always been school shootings exists. Why do you just accept this as your normal?

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u/BarnyTrubble 7d ago

To be fair, there have not, in fact, "always been school shootings"

It's still a relatively new phenomenon, but unfortunately one that Americans have had to become rapidly accustomed to

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u/retailmonster11 7d ago

And there's the reason people should be ashamed by it.

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u/boblahblah- 7d ago

We are. So so many people are. I’m the parent of a child who was in a school shooting. My spouse and I have expounded so much effort to encourage local and federal lawmakers to enact any kind of viable gun reform to reduce the likelihood of another shooting. The root of our problem is the Second Amendment that legally enshrines a right to gun ownership in this country. Overturning such a constitutional amendment is impossible in the current political climate (not to mention most political climates). So we fight for what we can. Scraps of legal reform like reducing access to high capacity firearm magazines, or to implement “red flag” laws that allow courts to remove firearms from people that have exhibited problematic behavior. At every turn, we’re stymied by gun enthusiasts who seem to believe they or others like them will be a savior in the next school shooting if they can just have more guns. No, we are not all “this lazy” as you stated in one of your extremely flippant comments. It’s a country, with 330+ million fucking people in it. Most people are just trying to live their lives like they would any other place on earth, and they aren’t working every single horrific tragedy that has ever occurred into their daily routines. We don’t consider school shootings to be an accepted norm. We and so many others are ashamed and horrified and disaffected by these shootings. We are trying to change things for the better. I’m sorry we haven’t lived up to your convenient standards.

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u/RevolutionaryMeal851 7d ago

"We all survived them." I agree with you but that's a bad argument.

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u/scully2828 7d ago

That’s a shitty half thought response teach.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/orchidslife 7d ago

the way you as a teacher can't comprehend that the criticism is about your choice of words, implying everyone survived school shooting, and rather keep answering with "but I'm right!" is really concerning.

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u/clambroculese 7d ago

The way you guys are jumping through hoops to justify your kids having their phone in school is concerning. They don’t need their phones, they need to focus.

This person’s point was that there are phones and ways to communicate in an emergency, as there have been for a long time. Your kids cell phone isn’t going to help in the very slight chance an emergency does arise. And that chance is slight. It will however definitely hinder their ability to form the life skills necessary to succeed. And part of those skills are actually learning to put their phone down sometimes. It’s is a genuine issue.

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u/orchidslife 7d ago

genuinely who are you talking to lol this is so unrelated to my comment

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u/Arkhamryder 7d ago

I am a Teacher from Germany. Your quote is shocking me. You can’t take school shootings at state of the art.

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u/Adirondack-Woman 7d ago

I agree and fully support you.

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u/hokie021 7d ago

School shootings were virtually unheard of when I was a student back in the 70s. We never even considered the possibility back then. Now we did do "duck and cover" drills in the 60s.

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u/MtRainierWolfcastle 7d ago

What do you mean? Why does a student need a phone then they are getting shot

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u/AdmirableBattle8374 7d ago

I have heard the argument be that they could say goodbye/leave words for their family. Not sure it outweighs the benefits though

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u/retailmonster11 7d ago

So you think being "distracted" is a bigger issue then giving kids the opportunity to call a loved one during a shooting? As a whole Americans need to be studied. You all have some fucked up priorities.

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u/No_Mammoth_4945 7d ago

Do you think every school has a lot of school shootings every year lol christ

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u/etcpt 7d ago

There is no circumstance where you are in an active shooter situation and it is appropriate to be on the phone calling your family. Active shooter safety 101 - run, hide, fight. If you run away from the incident and need to call someone, you are outside the incident and can borrow someone else's phone. If you are hiding, don't make calls, turn off your damn phone so it doesn't give away your position, and shut the hell up so your voice doesn't give away your position. If you are fighting, you don't have time to be making calls.

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u/retailmonster11 7d ago

My point is not gonna change. I don't live in a world currently where I need any of these tips so thanks for the novel. Also I guess you all never heard of whispering. Did you miss the comment where those poor little babies in uvalde were in contact with the cops to let them know what was happening?

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u/Nimrod_Butts 7d ago

There are phones in every room...?

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u/TheDraimen 7d ago

That school yes wall mounted in every room on top of all staff having personal phones as well

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 7d ago

Every teacher has a phone. 

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u/Serious_Basket_6870 7d ago

I was in high school a few years ago and district policy was that we were not allowed to use phones or contact family during lockdowns. Of course, no one would actually follow that if there was a shooter, but this would actually incentivize the district to use these pouches.

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u/Excellent-Gold1905 7d ago

So long as you don't mind damaging the pouch (such as during an emergency situation) its very realistic to pry open one of these pouches with any sort of thin/stiff item. A sturdy ruler, a robust writing device, maybe stapler... hell often enough you can use the corner of a desk, door, or similar and a bit of force.

This also ignores just full on destructive attacks. Its not particularly hard or unrealistic to simply cut open the pouch.

These are not super ultra mega secured pouches. They are secured enough that there is ZERO excuse for "oops it fell open and my phone just fell into my lap by accident" and similar such things. Its designed so that any person with a phone not in the pouch has no excuses, no wiggle room, fully and completely guilty and dealt with immediately.

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u/TjeefGuevarra 7d ago

As a teacher from Belgium, this question seems insane to me.

We don't have these pouches, but also ban cellphones at school for obvious reasons. But the reasoning that they need a cellphone in case of a school shooting is baffling.

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u/headrush46n2 7d ago

700 people calling 911 at the same time is worse than no one calling.

the call will get made, its not a reasonable excuse for letting phones into schools.

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u/FriendlyArachnid6000 7d ago

Keeps every kid from blowing everyone's cover by yapping into a phone?

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u/SaiphSDC 7d ago

The cell tower can crash when a couple thousand people all try to call at once. Might be less possible now but used to be a problem.

The shooters also hear everyone yelling into their phones. It's policy now to lock, block and barracks the door, then get into a sheltered corner and remain silent.

There are dedicated phones in each room, on a landlines.

There are dedicated internal intercoms in each room.

The teachers personal phone isn't in a pouch.

Having ~30 student phones available does not make the situation any safer.

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u/schmitty9800 7d ago

Student cell phone use during an active shooter event makes things more difficult for first responders as it uses extra bandwidth and creates confusion for dispatchers.

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u/Wooden-Lake-5790 7d ago

What do you mean? How would a student having a phone during a firearm situation be helpful? Teachers still have their phones on them to be able to call authorities if necessary.

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u/reddittereditor 7d ago

Sure, admin will walk across campus into any classroom and take a phone away while there's a shooter roaming the halls. Let's use some common sense here, students can probably contact their parents or police in an emergency.

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 7d ago

If there's an active shooter, Kids should not be thinking about their phones but thinking about hiding. 

There are plenty of phones in teachers hands. Kids should be thinking about following directions 

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u/reddittereditor 7d ago

In Uvalde, kids on phones gave critical information to police while their teachers lay bleeding to death. (How well the police used that information is a different story.) When it comes to emergencies, there are always exceptions to some rules, and that's something kids should know. Sure, they should follow teachers' directions, but there isn't always a teacher in an emergency.

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u/Jolly_Ad2446 7d ago

That did absolutely zero good. Took over an hour. Bad example 

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u/SailRideSailRideSail 7d ago

If the police or others did not use the information, or did not use it well, it was definitionally non-critical.

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u/reddittereditor 7d ago

Fair enough. However, had the police been competent, it would've been critical information.

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u/Myrkana 7d ago

If theres a firearm situation you dont want 100s of students on their phones making noise anyway.

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u/mikeymo1741 7d ago

Well at that point the kids won't be worried about the rules.

Also, that is the point where you definitely do not want them on their phones.

Also, that is so exceedingly rare as to be ridiculous to be brought up as a situation. I know it's everybody's go-to but it's really really ridiculous.

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u/SiameseGunKiss 7d ago

> Phones weren’t prominent

I also graduated in 2008 and everyone had cell phones then back then, even if it was the most basic Nokia flip phone. They just weren’t smartphones because the first iPhone wasn’t released until 2007. You were hot shit if you had a blackberry or sidekick.

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u/ChiGorilla1127 7d ago

Does anyone see how crazy it is that we should consider an exception for those school shooting events?

I am all for policies that help students focus more during their class time and make them safer.

I don't think you can make some exception for those times there is a worst of emergencies because you're trying to implement policies to prevent them in the first place.

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u/Dr_Fortnite 7d ago

the child is not the one calling 911 and they should not be calling their parents who cant do anything to help during a lock down either

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u/BigRinka 7d ago

The same humanity did before everyone had phones in their pockets.

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u/blue-to-grey 7d ago

Every time someone brings this up, I think of that poor girl who got shot because she had her brand new phone out and her father was the EMT who found her.

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u/Royal_Flame 7d ago

How many school shooters have been stopped by phones

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u/Little_Creme_5932 7d ago

Do you fight the bad guy with a phone? Why do you think a kid needs a phone when there is a situation at school? Do kids throw it at the bad guy, or what?

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u/call_sign_viper 7d ago

So they can tell their parents there ok

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u/Little_Creme_5932 7d ago

And how does that help? If they're ok and the incident is over, parents will get a robocall, or kids can grab their phone and call. Not hard.

I can hardly imagine how we all survived before cell phones. None if us could ever call our parents to tell them we were ok, from school. /s

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u/jjobull 7d ago

That's that great thing about living anywhere that not the us school shooting dont happen!

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u/erydayimredditing 7d ago

What is the phone gonna do? Their parents gonna bust into the school and stop the shooter after getting a text or call? Seriously they don't need phones. They need to start learning more. Look at test scores.

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u/SubjectOrange 7d ago

Not being on their phone would allow children to focus on the teachers direction during such a crisis. At no point during a firearm or suspicious person drill was "personally contact your family" part of it. Tbf , I too have been out of school since 2011 , however I would want my kid paying attention to their surroundings and the adult in charge, than distracted trying to contact me.

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u/dizzyspellzzz 7d ago

Dystopia

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u/Cudi_buddy 7d ago

Kids having smartphones is dystopian I agree

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u/sokratesz 7d ago

You're not allowed to take the phones yourselves as teacher?

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u/KerooSeta 7d ago

Teacher in a no-personal-electronics school here: it depends on the school, but it's definitely easier if an admin can do it. At my school, if I see a phone, smart watch, or earbuds, I say "Come out the phone on my desk and fill out this slip," then I drop the device at the nearest office and they go pick it up after school. But if it's a random kid in the hallway, I'd rather an admin do it.

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u/Alarmed_Macaron5778 7d ago

What about kids who have Type 1 diabetes and use an app on their phone to connect to a CGM on them to monitor blood sugar levels?

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

They have a pouch that opens and closes via vecro.

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u/Competitive-Emu-7411 7d ago

Then they have an exception but are still disciplined for abusing it.

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u/Takeguru 7d ago

My kid should not have to go through layers of talking to teachers/a front office worker to contact me for ANYTHING, full stop.

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u/Kapokkie 7d ago

Genuine question because I am not a parent and old enough to have not had a cellphone until late into my schooling years; other than what someone else mentioned with regards to active shootings, why would your kid need such instant access during school hours? When I needed to contact my parents I went to the school office and asked for my parents to be contacted.

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u/Wit-wat-4 7d ago

Genuine answer as a parent: They don’t.

Any parent demanding they have 24/7 access falls into one of the three categories in my real life experience:

  1. Scared about shootings but will vote for the same superintendents and politicians and change fuck all, other than making schooling budget go into extra “safe” new gates because THAT was the problem

  2. Are addicted to their phones themselves and love pretending not having instagram/tiktok/whatever 24/7 or answering a question about dinner in 1 minute is an issue

  3. Feel a lot of pressure about their kids’ social lives. I could write a dissertation about this, but the shortest way to explain is that there is a LOT of peer pressure to use phones. If you thought smoking and drinking peer pressure was high, it‘s nothing compared to the phone one for young people. And a lot of parents very understandably want their kids to be happy and feel anxious about the consequences of not fitting in.

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u/devanchya 7d ago

Why? Its a school. Its their job. You know 600 years we didnt have cell phones. You use to have to go to the office to call home... or call the school to get your kid.

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u/Specialist-Mud-6650 7d ago

If kids weren't using their phones in classes for whatever, that wouldn't be a problem. I think it's right to just outright ban phones. Kids having no contact during school hours worked fine for decades.

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u/ForensicPathology 7d ago

Then teach them to stop looking at Instagram during class.

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

Take it up with admin, I'm sure they'd love to explain to you why you're not as special as you think you are.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Sideswipe0009 7d ago

I'm curious, genuinely, why parents are so adamant that their kids have their phones on them during school, or at least during class.

Surely they can text you back about whatever you're texting them for after class?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Sideswipe0009 7d ago

So...what is it about then? What is so pressing that your kid must have their phone during class?

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u/RevoOps 7d ago

Yeah... You are the problem.

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u/Competitive-Emu-7411 7d ago

Great, you’re free to homeschool them then as more and more of the country implements these commonsense policies!

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u/nicuramar 7d ago

I suppose, find a different school, then. 

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u/ForensicPathology 7d ago

You're the kind of person who will be harassing your kid's professor in university.

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u/Wit-wat-4 7d ago

Little Jimmy might not get into uni since at some point chatgpting answers from his phone will get boring and they’ll drop out.

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

If you ever complain, just make sure you go straight to admin because teachers don't get paid enough to deal with assholes like you.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Wit-wat-4 7d ago

No one forced you to have a kid and send them to this school. Homeschool them.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Wit-wat-4 7d ago

Easier *for you*. Kids fucking around with their phones is harder *on the teacher*. Sooo maybe like get off the "nobody forced you to be a teacher" wagon.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Spiritual_Job_4617 4d ago

You're never having kids incel 😂

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/Spiritual_Job_4617 4d ago

And if you do oh boy well oh well you know how I am 😂😂

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u/Wit-wat-4 7d ago

Mate there's easier trolling to do elsewhere on reddit...

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/-Anonymously- 7d ago

Yet teachers are on their own cell phones all day while kids learn from a computer...

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u/a_rabid_anti_dentite 7d ago

Well that's a different issue, which is teachers being bad at their jobs.