Why Can We Crack Down on Phones But Not A.I.?

In society today, it is prevalent and obvious to see that people and kids of all ages all have one thing in common: they are all looking at cellphones. In moderation, cell phones can be a great resource; a little kid walking to and from school by themselves might need a phone for safety. Adults need phones to take work calls, and even teenagers have found ways to make phones a necessity. However, phones are starting to show up in places that are distracting and ruining social abilities, like classrooms, and overall are leading to a decline in the ability to demonstrate basic life skills, such as doing schoolwork honestly.

In Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, he argues that social media, and the constant addiction is what triggers attention fragmentation, laziness, and antifragility. He provides a bunch of specific rules and examples for parents to use on their kids to help make sure that the social media doesn’t harm them so they can be successful adults, such as, “No smartphones before high school,” and “Phone free schools.” And while these suggestions are by no means ineffective, they don’t solve the bigger issue. 

Over 97% of teens in America admitted to using their phones in class and or during school hours (K-12 Drive), and even though that alone seems concerning, some of the more serious consequences go unseen. For example, the constant use of phones, and the constant notifications can ruin attention spans, an issue that seems to go unnoticed. It is constantly enforced and rubbed in students faces that they may not use their phone in class, because it is deemed as distracting, and makes the teacher feel unimportant.

While phones may seem like the bigger deal and the thing that is single-handedly ruining adolescents' lives, more and more problems are coming from something else: Artificial Intelligence. 

School assignments have turned nearly completely digital, using the platform Schoology, which can be quick and convenient, but also pose its own set of challenges. One of the downsides is the quick and secretive use of AI, which is getting harder and harder to detect amongst assignments. 

ChatGPT isn’t blocked on school wifi or chromebooks, which leads to the question: “How serious is DPS about getting rid of AI?” Afterall, it is clear that DPS and teachers across the district are serious about no phones, but why does cheating and plagiarizing go unnoticed, while Instagram is apparently the thing that is destroying education?

In fact, there have been claims of DPS being in favor of AI, and encouraging teachers to use it to create lesson plans, quizzes, worksheets, and more, even though ChatGPT is forbidden and frowned upon for students. That doesn’t stop most students though, because it is clear that the seriousness of the consequences have gone down. 

The policy at East used to be serious: tanking a student’s grade if they had been caught using it multiple times, having it documented on Infinite Campus (which goes on your record), getting parents involved, and having to have a "restorative practice meeting.” But if these consequences were really being followed through with, students wouldn’t be using AI as much as they do. So what do we do to combat this? 

It’s not even just about the phones, the social media, the texting, distractions, notifications, etc. On the internet, there are thousands of speeches, books, and articles about how phones are the cause of the downfall, and how we need to combat them. But it’s not about looking at Youtube videos during class anymore, it’s about cheating and finding a way to dodge the hard yet necessary bullet of high school to become successful adults, by having a computer do your class work for you. 

If we can implement all of these restrictions on phones, and make sure that kids put them away, or up in the pouches on the wall, why can’t we do the same for AI?