Texting During School

Remember when note passing was the communication method of choice for distracted students?Does anyone even know what a “cheat sheet” looks like anymore? Text messaging has not only changed our personal lives, but it’s also found its way into the classroom and has all but replaced older forms of silent communication. As the school year approaches, parents and teachers everywhere are looking for new ways to get kids to text responsibly and hopefully learn a thing or two this year.

Below are a few texting tips for parents to help their kid’s text responsibly, courtesy of Predicto Mobile, the leading online and text message based survey company:

• Check the school’s cell phone policies.
• Speak with their teachers about what they are doing to limit text use and find ways you can work together to combat the issue if it becomes a serious problem
• Talk to your kids about the dangers of sexting.
• Find out who they are chatting with and look at the cell phone bill to see what time of day they are texting the most
• Encourage good academic behavior. Find out when their exams are, offer help with studying, etc.
• Make them work for it. If texting during school gets out of control and you see a spike in your bill, ask your child to get a part time job to cover their text message cell phone plan.
• Don’t text them when they are in class. Occassionally you may need to get in touch with your child during school hours, find out when your child has breaks in between classes or what time they take lunch and use that time to send texts
• Petition your cell phone provider to offer a way to limit cell phone text message service during school hours.

“Kids have pioneered text usage and it’s become somewhat invasive in a classroom setting,” says Eyal Yechazkell, CEO of Predicto Mobile. “Many schools have already banned cell phones, and we’ve all heard horror stories about kids sexting in school or using the service as a way to cheat. Parents need to take a tougher stance and talk with their kids about texting in the classroom to make sure it doesn’t interfere with the learning process.”