Smartwatches at school are distracting and help students cheat and cut class. School tech policies aren’t keeping up with phone-like wearables, writes columnist juliejargon
. But educators say that students are using their watches to cut class or text friends—sometimes with cheating in mind—and still more are distracted by the notifications buzzing on their wrists.
While the children’s smartwatch market is still relatively small, making up about 20% of overall smartwatch shipments, it’s a growing segment of personal tech for young people. According to Pew Research, 13% of teens own a smartwatch. Kids’ smartwatch unit sales grew 12% to about 12 million in the first half of this year compared with the prior-year period, according to SuJeong Lim, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
Ms. McVerry said she worries about how constant parent-child communication is affecting kids’ development. “When parents are constantly sending that reminder text, they’re not giving their child the discomfort they need to advocate for themselves,” she said. “The problem with the constant interruptions is that the students lose their train of thought,” she added. “They will be texted something like ‘Don’t forget to let the dog out when you get home’ and then whatever they were working on is just gone right out of their mind and they have to start over.”
“I may text him once a week, maybe twice a week if there’s been a schedule change,” she said, adding that he keeps his watch on theater mode, so there’s no vibrating or ringing.that allows Apple Watch wearers to block access to notifications and apps, including Messages, during school hours. Parents can set the hours using the Apple Watch app on their iPhone, if that’s what they used to set up their child’s watch, or they can do it from the control center of the child’s watch.
“Children who can afford smartwatches and MacBooks have additional means to communicate,” Adam Gelb, the school’s assistant principal, said, adding that the school is likely to develop a policy around outside devices soon. “If everyone just has a Chromebook, there’s an even playing field and no one sticks out.”Which tech option makes more sense for students, smartwatches or phones? Join the conversation below.