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Recent regulations on use cell phone In classrooms in the city of Buenos Aires, the age-old discussion about the introduction of technology in the school world is back on the table.
If, as Argentinian researcher Carlos Scolari has argued, “the history of media is also the history of media panics and fears of the media,” then distrust of technological innovation in schools reminds us of past resistance to technological innovation: pens, typewriters, televisions, and calculators were all technologies that were initially viewed with suspicion.
The document resumes in its introduction something we have known for years: digitization and/or digital mediatization have transformed all processes of everyday life, including those of teaching and learning.
Dictators don’t like this.
Professional and critical journalism practice is a fundamental pillar of democracy. That is why it troubles those who think they are in possession of the truth.
From this perspective, the new guidelines emphasise the need to “promote” the “safe” use of devices, an approach that raised concerns in schools in the 1980s, which sought to protect pupils from the negative influences of media such as television.
this Suspect The school’s attitude toward technological innovation recalls past resistance to the arrival of pens, typewriters, televisions, and calculators.”
However, the current regulations are based on data from the 2022 PISA tests and refer to “some research” without providing a completely clear reference, making the argument difficult to weigh.
Say goodbye to cell phones in class: new rules for Buenos Aires schools
According to the view expressed in the document, for example, in secondary schools, mobile phones can only be used in specific teaching activities. Prevent distractions.
This view doesn’t seem to address the root of the problem: students’ relationship with technology. Banning cars from the road to prevent accidents seems like a similar measure, but it doesn’t solve anything.
The report stresses the need to include digital technologies wherever they are consistent with curriculum and planning. We note here another “adult-centred” perspective. In Carlos Scolari’s concept of “transmedia literacy” we see the need for schools to recover the skills, competencies and strategies that were built outside of school and operate as informal learning strategies.
This perspective seems to fail to address the root of the problem: students’ relationship to technology. Prohibit vehicles from passing to avoid traffic accidents This could be a similar measure…”
This last question is crucial, as school approaches must include new processes of subjectivity construction, issues related to digital identities, and new ways of socializing through engagement with digital technologies.
More schools restrict cellphone use in classroom
Many surveys in Argentina and the region cover a wide range of issues related to media (and technology) use. Empirical evidence can explain how students use mobile devices for learning.
But rather than asking what effect cell phones have on students, it’s more important to understand how students use these devices.
Communication scholar Jesús Martín Barbero has defined this process as the step “from media to mediation”, that is, being able to understand how media are negotiated, interpreted and used in everyday life.
The school’s approach must include new processes The construction of subjectivityissues related to digital identity and new ways of socializing”
Thinking about regulating the use of devices that are ubiquitous in the lives of teachers, students, and parents is complex. Those of us who work with students who are average or above know that the possibility of strictly regulating technology use is an idea that is a bit difficult to implement.
Perhaps the epistemological reflection on what technologies are is still unresolved. If, from a public policy perspective, we only see them as Just a “tool” to achieve other goals (The Instrumentalist Vision) We are losing focus on the fact that technology changes us, but we also change it and influence it through our uses, rituals and repertoires.
We welcome the debate. We must consider Gambling addictionproblematic consumption, and other related issues. But from an approach that prioritizes training and critical thinking, schools can take a sociotechnical perspective and think about technology in historical, social, political, and economic frameworks.
In an age of massive accumulation of data by large technology platforms, bias caused by algorithms, and the emergence of artificial intelligence, regulation of device use seems like a small solution to a huge challenge.
The current media ecosystem operates as an environment In all our social practicesgives us today the possibility to compare ideas, experiences and evidence, which should be far away from the technophobic perspective (related to the media panic already mentioned) and the carelessness of technomania (in which technology itself is a panacea for humanity).
We suggest a deep dive into a critical reading of the context, a collaborative vision between teachers, authorities, families and researchers with a wide and rich range of perspectives.
*Director of the Educational Field at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Social Communication of the University of El Salvador. He holds a PhD in Social Communication and is a secondary school teacher, undergraduate and graduate university teacher and researcher.
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