Is a smart phone necessary to stay current?

A friend and I were having a friendly debate and I thought it would be interesting to get your input. Is a smart phone necessary to stay current as a teacher? Would an old fuddy-duddy who refuses to abandon his dumb, flip-style, cell phone begin to fall behind in technology acumen? Would he slowly become irrelevant and lose step with the students he is teaching since their lives are becoming more centered around mobile data devices every day? Is it more important for an online teacher than it is for an in-person teacher?

I think all of the above is possibly true, but I would like to know what you think.


_________________________________

 

Yesh......

 

I'm not a teacher but I'll tell you this, I just have one of those flip phones and I sometimes feel a step behind. I just can't afford every new gizmo that comes out.

 

Yeah you need to get a smart phone.
They really aren't that expensive. In many cases they are free.

 

1. You're going to get a biased response to this question because we're all members of an online community enabled by tech.
2. You're not irrelevant as a teacher unless you fail to stay on top of your subject matter expertise and teaching methods.
3. The question is: Do you see yourself needing to take advantage of smart phones to stay on top of your subject matter or expand your teaching methods?

I think you'll find that kids behave the same ways they always have, just elaborate past our limitations and think about what we would have done if:

1. We had constant access to media and didn't have to wait to get home to watch TV or listen to music.
2. We had constant access to our friends and didn't have to pass notes manually, find a phone or wait for recess to chat.
3. We had constant access to information and could error check a teacher on the fly during class with wikipedia or other tools.

Essentially if you've got a class full of kids with smartphones and they're swift about it, they can functionally crowd-source an education during class.

Up to you if you need to know how they can do that. It does come with a cost.

 

Yeah, unless you lose it and don't have cloud backup.

 

Yes, that's the question: Is it just a new gizmo or is it something more significant that is becoming a part of our culture? I suppose only time will tell.

 

I find this all funny because I have never once in my life owned a cellphone, and have no intention of ever owning one. I'm far from "old", but I have an old school mentality about this sort of thing; if you can't reach me at home or at the office, then damnit you're out of luck.

After having worked in a management role for a very large telecom company that had a cellphone division, I came to the conclusion from listening to many QA calls and looking at usage notes, that the average person really doesn't need a cellphone at all. It's a luxury item that's gone completely out of control for most people and has just become another unnecessary bill that they create for themselves just to stay "current".

 

Landline Infrastructure

I got rid of the landline sometime in the last century.

Landlines will probably remain viable for businesses and corporations.

The landline infrastructure should be maintained because if the Satellite system goes down, then all cells go down (and maybe some landlines too).

 

If you don't need telephony, one option is to buy an Apple iPod Touch. This is basically the same thing as an iPhone, except that it is stripped of the ability to make or receive phone calls. The upfront cost is $300, and the monthly service cost is truly minimal at $0.

I know a guy who has a "dumbphone" that is issued and paid for by his employer. So he has telephony, but no "smart" features. However, he carries an iPod Touch as a supplemental "smart" device. This means carrying two devices instead of one, but between the two, he's got pretty much all the capabilities of a smartphone, without paying any monthly charges.

 

Not in my case, at least. I'm 70. My son gave me a cellphone for my birthday about 3 years ago. Telecom costs are higher than US in Canada. My landline was costing me close to $40 a month. The cell costs me $12.50, pay-as-I-go. So I ditched the land-line and save close to $30 a month. All I was getting on it were sales calls, anyway!

As far as smart-phones go, I don't really need one -- at least until my desktop computer dies. Then again, both my older grandkids (boy 13, girl 14) have 'em -- as do their parents. I do a fair amount of computer work with digital-camera images -- and I can't see me (so far) doing that, or my other hobbies (programming and recording my guitar) on a mobile device. I like a bigger screen, particularly for the photo work.

But the cell-phone is 'way handier and saves me money over the land-line. Works great from toy departments and other Grandpa-filled places, too! :smile:

Johann

 

<--- still doesn't own a cell phone. Gosh.... I've never taken a phone photo, never sent a text; seriously don't have a clue.

 

Me too.

That was what pushed me over the edge too. Everyone calls me on my cell and all I got on my land-line was telemarketers.

Yes, I ditched my land-line about 6 months ago and have absolutely zero regrets. Between that and the satellite TV I dumped, I'm saving about $140 a month. I pay $7 a year for Skype telephone and hardly ever use it unless we call the in-laws in Canada.

 

We must be soul-mates, because you are the first person outside my family that I've met who doesn't own a phone too lol

 

Ahhh, but I can beat that. One word: MagicJack.

On my 5-year $69.99 plan with MJ, I spend about $13.99 a year if you break the one-time payment down yearly. The quality is excellent and that's on my very slow 1 MB connection, and now that I have the modem plug I don't even need to have any of my computers on to send or receive calls. Long distance is free which is fantastic.

I haven't paid an actual phone bill in years. The savings are really nice.

 

You have no land-line or cell phone?