By the end of this lesson, students will:
Consider phone culture and how phone culture developed.
Understand the main ways in which phones are used in general, and how that differs from kids and teens versus adults.
Consider what they want to use phones for, and why.
Overview of Ontario Curriculum Connections in this Lesson
A2: Digital Media Literacy
A2.4: Forms, Conventions and Techniques
B1: Oral and Non-verbal communication
B1.1: Effective Listening Skills
B1.2: Listening Strategies for Comprehension
B1.3: Speaking Purposes and Strategies
B1.4: Oral and non-verbal communications skills
B1.5: Word Choice, Syntax, and Grammar in Oral Communiacation
C3: Comprehension
C3.3: Analyzing Texts
C3.4: Analyzing cultural elements of texts
D1: Developing Ideas and Organizing Content
D1.2: Developing Ideas
Background Knowledge for Teachers: Usage
Who Has Access
The following information is extracted from the 2022 Media Smarts, Phase IV 2022 survey of Young Canadians in a Wireless World.
Most of the students have phones or access to phones. 77% of youth have a smartphone, 85% of youth with a smartphone received theirs prior to age 14. Almost half of youth without a smartphone have access to one.
How They Are Engaging
Students are active consumers and creators of content.
86% of youth aged 9-11 have an account on a platform that requires users to be 13+
Social connection is the primary reason for online engagement.
97% use phones to connect with friends and family
62% have talked to someone online whom they’ve never met in person
78% follow celebrities and influencers on social media
74% post comments, pictures, videos or memes
81% play online games
Top Five Platforms include:
50% YouTube
42% TikTok
38% Instagram
37% Facebook
28% Snapchat
How Much Are They Consuming
Phones are a big part of student lives:
Youth average 1-2 hours on phones weekdays, and 3+ hours on weekends outside of schoolwork.
80% keep a phone in their bedrooms at night.
44% worry they spend too much time online.
Lesson 4 Activities
4A. Student Usage
Exploring students’ background knowledge of phone usage.
Materials: Scraps of Paper, pencils, tape
Pre-reading: Prepare students for reading the first half of the poem Lock Picking Level 1 by asking about whether they feel phones are important, and why?
Ask them what different ways phones are used. Record their thoughts, connections, wonderings and insights on chart-paper or on the whiteboard (wherever you capture ideas generated by students). Do students use phones differently than adults? How so?
Read the first half of the poem Lock Picking Level 1 from Seeking Draven with students.
Lock Picking Level 1
At school, during recess, I stand and watch my friends on their phones. Me alone.
Dad doesn’t know what it’s like
To be the last
To see.
To be the last
To have this thumb,
This extra limb,
That can connect me to
e v e r y t h i n g,
He says, we
don’t
need
tails
either.
Discussion
Does Teagan see the phone as important? What about Teagan’s father?
Describe what an App is on a phone. Can the students name any apps that are popular, or that they might have used? What broad categories would the students place the apps on a phone? Discussion of three broad categories: Productivity/Social/Entertainment.
Think-pair-share to explore what students know about apps.:
Think: On a piece of paper, draw a phone, write in it the first apps you would download in order of importance (3-5 minutes)
Pair: Share your drawing with a partner (5 minutes)
Discuss: Which apps did your partner choose? Which are the same or different? What categories would the apps fall into? What does that say about how you want to use a phone? How many minutes per day do you expect to use each category?
Can you decide on the ‘number one app’ a student should download?
Share: Each pair sticks their agreed-upon app ‘number one app’ on the white board or on a wall. Together, they describe the key advantages of the app and why it’s important with the class. Can the class decide which apps would be in the top 3? (15 minutes) Is this also where you would expect to spend the most time?
Lesson 4 Reflection:
This lesson suggests that choices we make and the patterns of usage can determine the shape of our own networks. How do students feel their choices of number one apps will shape, grow, change their networks online and offline? How might it shape the overall community over time?