David Figlio

Back in the day when I went to school, we communicated with one another by passing notes and hoping the teachers didn't catch us, right?

But a lot has changed since then.

You're constantly getting interrupted.

You're constantly getting this feedback.

You're constantly getting tempted to be brought into who knows what.

We're seeing school districts, states, countries saying we are not allowing cell phones in school.

It could be bell to bell from the time kids get to school until the time kids leave school.

It could be just during instructional time.

All of those things are going on.

Well, this is something I've noticed both at the K-12 level as well as higher ed.

Parents these days expect...

to be in pretty close to constant conversation with their children.

Oh, I'm sorry to say yes.

But I'll tell you, there are a number of parents nowadays who feel like we're going to college.

I'm right there along with you.

So I think there's an awful lot of...

Parents wanting to be connected with their kids all the time.

And that's actually one of the things I've heard that is a bit of a parental concern about cell phone bans in school.

What if I can't catch up with my kid?

How do I know they're doing okay?