In this episode, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about banning the use of smartphones in the classroom. Is it going to help or detract from kids’ education? The screens on smartphones are increasing in size getting close to the 7-inch range. And Google wants to help people with their digital well-being. Sounds ironic, but it has some good features to get us off our phones. 

Show Notes: 

A Study done in 2015: "Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music — nearly nine hours on average, those between the ages of 8 and 12, the average is nearly six hours per day." 

One country is taking a serious step to get rid of this problem in schools - France.  

French lawmakers voted to ban smartphone use in schools. 

Lawmakers decided that students under the age of 15 must leave their cellphones at home, or at least have them turned off during the school day.  

The ban also includes the use of tablets, computers, and other internet-connected devices as well. There are exceptions in place for students with disabilities and for the educational use of devices in the classroom. High schools have the option to go with this or not.  

Huawei 7-inch device 

Huawei is introducing a new phone in its Honor Note series, and this model is coming with the line’s biggest screen yet: just a little under seven inches.  

It comes with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and storage of 64GB or 128GB. Its huge AMOLED screen has a 1080 x 2220 resolution, putting it a bit over 1080p. The phone has a massive 5,000mAh battery to match its extra-large screen. 

Huawei is launching the Honor Note 10 in China for about $410 USD.   

Google and our digital well-being 

Google is planning to release some new features to help us to see and manage the time we spend on our devices. By doing this, the company hopes that we can better understand our habits, so that we can control the demands that technology places on us in using up our attention all with the aim to help us focus on what matters the most.