Things Change

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Today I realized how much things really have changed since I was a student. My friend stopped by to see me on the way to pick her son up from school. We were sitting on the porch talking, and I happened to glance at the time on my cell phone. I mentioned that it was already 3pm, so she might want to get going. School gets out at 3:10 here.

She said no, her son would call her when traffic started to die down some, and she would pick him up then. That’s their routine, so she doesn’t end up stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, and he gets to hang out a few extra minutes with his friends. He’s in middle school so it’s “the thing to do”.

That reminded me of how much things have changed in the last 8 years. If I had a cell phone in school, it would have resulted in a 2 week suspension. We were only allowed to have our cell phones if our parents wanted us to have them after school for safety reasons while driving home or if we would need them after school for another reason.

Either way our parents had to send a letter to the school acknowledging the fact that their child did have a cell phone, and it would have to be left turned off in a locked car or turned into the office at the beginning of the school day.

Now the kids walk around with them in their backpacks like it’s nothing. My sister in law is 12, and she’s had one for about a year now. If she’s sick, she goes to the bathroom at school and calls her mom to tell her she’s headed to the office to go home. If she forgets something, she calls her mom and has it brought to her.

She often calls me from the school bus because they’re running a double route, and she’s bored. At least she’s got a way to call her mom to let he know she’ll be home almost 2 hours late. The school district stopped leaving recordings on their answering machine letting the parents know.

Tags: backpacks, bumper to bumper, bumper traffic, cell phone, cell phones in schools, kids with cell phones, safety reasons, school bus, sister in law, sitting on the porch