Just over a quarter century ago, Americans couldn’t imagine that one day more than 95% of teenagers would have, or have access to, a cellphone, much less bring one to school.
Oh, cellular telephones, were around. Barely. And they were as big as bricks. They weren’t something you slipped in your pocket.
They were for emergencies, for the most part.
School was for learning, not for checking on the latest Instagram post or finding out what Austin and Brie were doing later or, dare we say it, checking how to solve a polynomial equation.
Last year, a Pew Research Center survey said 72% of high school teachers claimed students being distracted by cellphones was a major problem in their classrooms. A third of middle school teachers said the same thing, and 6% of elementary school teachers did so.