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One Earbud

 One of my jobs as an Assistant Principal is to monitor the halls during passing period. I routinely call out students for the following:

  • Cellphone use
  • Untucked shirt
  • Untied shoes
  • Earbuds in
I really don't understand the last one.


I have good reasons for asking students to refrain from earbuds in the hallway:
  • Situational awareness: if I need to give a warning, students should be able to hear
  • Community: don't tune out classmates, greet them and be greeted in turn
  • Disconnection: we are overly reliant on technology to fill every moment of the day (I actually wrote an article on this a few years ago)
But some people have trouble taking their earbuds out for just 5 minutes! Even stranger (to me anyway) are those who walk around the entire day with an earbud in just one ear. Granted, I do this for safety when I am walking my dog at 5:30 in the morning (see Situational Awareness above). But I feel like it would drive me insane to always have music in one ear and the real world in the other.

I've been given several explanations when I ask students why they do this:
  • It helps my ADHD.
  • It helps me to focus.
  • I have my own personal playlist for my life.
  • I really don't care about anyone around me and it just lets me drown them out.
I'm not in your heads, so I hesitate to tell you that you're wrong.




AI image from Microsoft Designer

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