Comments by "Kerngezond" (@kerngezond6953) on "Australische jongeren tegen verbod op sociale media: 'Ik ben ervan afhankelijk'" video.

To the English speaking Australian viewers of this news item. This specific item is from the Netherlands public broadcaster and I as a Dutchman work in secondary education. We recently had a total ban on mobile phones at schools and only a few months in the results are already astounding. Children are more social, more concentrated and it brings joy to my heart to see them playing a card game or table tennis during the lunch break. And that is after only a few weeks of getting used to it while the phone ban is only partial (they are after all free to use their phones at home). I see myself as a young, progressive and modern teacher but during the last couple of weeks I have become convinced that smart phones are pure poison to our children (and to a lesser extent adults). I know that as a society we can’t get the genie of modern technology into the bottle again but regard to smartphones we have a solemn duty to try.
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I absolutely agree. They come up with all kinds of reasons why they are against the ban while their arguments sound like the perfect arguments in favour of the ban.
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@ Blijkbaar hebben we onder dit item veel buitenlandse respondenten dus schakelen we over naar Engels. Ik ben best wel nationalistisch ingesteld maar een beetje aanpassen aan je gasten op z’n tijd doet niemand kwaad. Maar als je Nederlands wilt spreken dan ga je je gang. Nog wat inhoudelijks te melden?
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Yes, it’s up to a democratically elected government to decide. If they don’t, no one will. We’ve been there in the Netherlands. Before a nationwide ban on phones at schools virtually no individual school dared to ban phones on their own.
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@devilangel4655 Vertel jij het maar, jij hebt een Engelse naam.
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@OneofInfinity. Well, then all is lost. I exaggerate of course, but I really think a partial ban is the best option we have. One thing I know with absolute certainty is that people themselves will not lay down their phones. I have multiple colleagues who admit they struggle with social media addiction and these are university-level educated people who have a fine grasp of the effects of social media on the human brain. If they can’t control themselves no one is safe. But I disagree with your assertion that we don’t have a government capable of pulling this off. After all, a total phone ban at schools is already in effect here in the Netherlands. Not a silver bullet by any means but definitely a fierce step in the right direction.
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I agree with the ban but disagree with reintroducing it. I have become convinced smartphones are inherently and profoundly unhealthy for a developing brain. They are addictive by design, or at least 90% of the apps are. We can’t get the genie into the bottle again but we at least have to treat social media as a kind of drugs and keep it away from children.
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