I read that 37 states have passed laws and rules to keep cellphones out of public education classrooms. This by itself will simply make the kids hate school even more than they already do. The problem is that TPTB aren’t changing the culture, only the rules. The entire realm of business and government requires cellphones. This is our culture.
The single biggest problem is the very notion of public education. It has built a massive cultural barrier between adults and children. When children are isolated into a dense community of their own age peers, they naturally build their own culture, and it is hostile to that of their parents. The school becomes a prison with all the peculiarities of a prison social structure. Meanwhile, the fundamental principle of the whole enterprise blocks any parenting that hinders the socio-political agenda of the education establishment.
This is a major factor in the looming collapse of the US, both society and government. There is no long-term vision of what those things should look like. Instead, TPTB are focused solely on maintaining their own position. This is ruthlessly enforced, while social structure is otherwise encouraged to degrade. The whole point is to reduce us to slavery as feral creatures with no sense of identity. Such people are easier to control en masse.
Yes, something must be done about the juvenile cellphone obsession, but the trend of making rules against them misses the whole point. We live in a world that presumes democracy is from God and that individualism is rooted in the nature of human existence. This is an obvious lie; people by instinct seek a sense of identity. Have you noticed the mania of cheering on sports teams? Churches and denominations with cute little names? Trade unions? The plethora of clubs for just about every human hobby? And now, subscriptions to online influencers?
Individualism is being shredded by its own children. We keep reaching for something that can never scratch that itch. Seeking a tribal identity is hard wired into human nature. Of course, the real answer is to build a society based on the only answer to all human need: the Covenant of Christ. The fundamental assumption of that covenant is that we were never meant to be atomized and isolated. You cannot follow Christ if you do not embrace the identity He gives, the overwhelming sense of belonging to Him and His family.
The issue is not the cellphones, but what role they play. We don’t need temples because we who follow Christ are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We don’t need turf with buildings and signs; life itself is the Promised Land He has redeemed. We don’t need vast collections of individual bodies; we need a depth of fellowship and involvement with however many are gathered in His name. It should not be hard to transition between virtual and real fellowship.
We should recognize each other by smell, by our eating habits, by the things we are likely to say in any given context. “Yep, that’s So-n-so.” The cellphones are just a means of keeping in touch with those we love already. And if we happen to discover each other online, that isn’t the foundation of our community. It’s just how we discovered people who were already family and didn’t know it. The foundation is Christ.
If we train our children that way, then cellphones won’t distract them from things that matter. I would debate whether secular public education matters in the first place. Those kids are starving for identity and purpose, and school as currently structured can’t give that. The games and social media apps are a thin, watery substitute for fellowship, but they don’t know anything better. Nobody has taught them that; it’s not part of the curriculum nor our society itself.
The Covenant of Christ demands we build something that fills that hunger. A fundamental goal of the Covenant is coming together and growing in our affection and our ability to express it. People are starving for genuine fellowship and they aren’t being fed. Where’s the chow line?
It would be better if schools taught proper use of phones? Online etiquette, or how to use it to organize things, etc. My son’s school did a little bit of that sort of thing, though I don’t think it was nearly enough.