Let’s Chat: Is technology a good thing, or a curse?

By Linda Tooth on July 3, 2024.

I have wanted to write this column for a while now, so here it goes.

According to CBC News, in March of this year school districts in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa-Carleton, as well as Toronto’s Catholic schools, filed a $4.5-billion lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc, Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok, stating they have “compromised all students’ ability to learn, disrupted classrooms and created a student population that suffers from increasing mental health harms.”

Are you kidding me?

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is quoted as saying it’s “nonsense,” and wonders how those respective school boards will pay the legal fees in this battle with these billion-dollar tech companies.

Are you ready for this? The article goes on to say that in September of this year, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will have to keep their phones out of sight and on silent while in class, and those in Grades 7-12 must obtain permission if they are going to use their phones in the classroom.

Why does someone aged six through 12 have a cellphone? I understand they tried to enforce a no-phone policy in 2019, and it was unenforceable.

You may be wondering why I care about what is going on in Ontario. I have family there with a five-year-old due to start kindergarten in the fall of 2024. I care about the kind of education she will receive and what the world will be like for her as she manoeuvres through the school system.

CBC News also recently ran a story regarding cellphone use in Alberta’s classrooms. The UCP is also planning to ban cellphones in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says, “The risks to students’ mental well-being and academic success are real, and we must take steps now to combat these effects.”

I would like to tell you about my recent experience in a department store in southern Alberta. A woman in front of me was paying cash for her three items. I know, cash! Can you imagine the horror? Anyway, the cashier totalled it up to $27.72 and took her $30. The cashier then closed the till and did not give her the $2.30 owed to her. The woman asked if she was to get change.

The cashier said, “Sorry, I’ll get that for you.” They then took out their cellphone and used the calculator to figure out how much to give them.

I was shocked. It did say on the receipt how much to give them in return, but they used their calculator on their cellphone to do the math. We know that pennies are not in operation in this country, so you round down to 0.70, which is 0.30 away from $28, and that same $28 is $2 from $30, so you give them $2.30.

I may not agree with all the issues the conservatives in Alberta or Ontario are working on, but this I agree with.

Let us begin working with students instead of letting technology do the work.

Linda Tooth is positive culture co-ordinator at Sanare Centre

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