this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
58 points (91.4% liked)

Technology

42894 readers
189 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Strict bans on mobile phones in schools have “close to zero” impact on student learning and show no evidence of improvements in attendance or online bullying, a study has found.

Researchers at US universities including Stanford and Duke looked at nearly 1,800 US schools where students’ phones were kept in locked pouches and found little or no differences in outcomes compared with similar schools without strict bans.

The report concluded that among schools instituting a ban: “For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero.”

The results will come as a disappointment to teaching unions and campaigners in England who backed the government’s recent move to restrict the use of mobile phones in schools. A ban is likely to come into force next year.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I guess I felt like the evidence spoke for itself, my aim was to communicate that Guardian was acting in bad faith in their reporting of this. “Grain of salt” was just colloquial language. I hadn’t read the paper so I couldn’t speak to the actual contents.

I’m also disappointed that Stanford, Upenn, and Duke would be okay with this (there are rules for putting your university affiliation on illegitimate research to make it seem legitimate). I would kind of expect it from Stanford (who also sponsored the research) tbh but not Duke or Upenn.

No wonder people are losing faith in the scientific establishment. If anyone reading this goes to one of those universities you should email the VPR/OPR office to complain. This is eroding your legitimacy too.

This whole thing is an excellent example of how corporations wield their ‘soft power’ to try to make their policies seem reasonable.

Edit: And U. Michigan! Good lord.

[–] PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Okay got it, sounds like I just kinda jumped down your throat then. "How dare this person not dunk on those folks as hard as I think they should!" (that's me lol)

Cheers. Thanks for the info.

Edit: I will say, Guardian and lots of others remain able to coast on an assumption of good will and journalistic integrity that I don't believe is there. Maybe it once was earned, I'm not a journalistic historian. But it seems much like old school enshittification, where a brand builds up a lot of credibility slowly over time, then the things that made consumers like it get quietly swapped out for shittier "parts" and it takes a long time for consumers to update their understanding of the brand.

The Guardian is not a credible journalistic institution, I wish it were, but I'm glad folks like you are noticing.

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nah you’re completely right it merits an angrier tone, it’s just so exhausting!

Agreed on the lack of legitimate publications. Pretty much every mainstream news source is compromised. You just have to piece together the truth from independent sources and read between the lines.

They make their agenda kind of transparent just in what they do choose to cover (like Bezos’ papers hyping billionaires and AI) vs what they choose not to cover (perpetual and well documented rape murder and other war crimes by Israel).

[–] PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Couldn't agree more, oddly enough to understand what they are saying you have to zoom way out, see what's not being said, see how phrasing is implicitly shaping their narrative, etc. All the subtle techniques eventually produce enough evidence to sum up one's observations into a really big and gross elephant. Standing right there. And somehow kind of invisible to many. Formerly to oneself.

It's difficult, and I mean, big surprise lol, they're basically engineered to be that way, it's all so tiring like ya said.


No hate to elephants, elephants are fucking great

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

All the subtle techniques eventually produce enough evidence to sum up one's observations into a really big and gross elephant. Standing right there.

That’s such a great description, you somehow start being able to see through the mist if you pay attention to a topic for long enough and the details coalesce into a clear picture of the situation.

I’m sure the wool is still over my eyes on some important things but my bullshit detector is constantly improving.

Also, agreed, let’s put the elephants in charge.

[–] PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Thanks, it's at least a familiar metaphor (-ish), but I've always struggled to describe the feeling well. I do think something like "seeing a shape in the mist" does a good job capturing it too. How it's obviously there but still hard to identify, easy for others to dismiss, etc. It's all the things you should be seeing but don't.

Anyway, same, on the wool and BS detector. How do you like your instance btw, on precisely that topic? I don't know a lot of details about that one but I feel like I see good info and takes from y'all more often than not. What's your experience there been?

[–] reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We are pretty small and I haven’t seen any real conflict play out within the community in my time here. The admins are anarchist and I think we agree on the things that matter most. The community isn’t explicitly anarchist (we want to be a good landing pad for all solarpunks). I haven’t seen misplaced hatred or bigotry coming out of our community. I’m a pretty happy camper.