Smartphones in Scouting: A curse or a cure?

[Peregrinator 85]

I've been looking for a good knot app. Which one do you use?

 

Can't vouch for the app but I use this web site all the time; if the app is 1/2 as good then it's well worth the cost.

 

http://www.animatedknots.com/

[Kudu 186]

Figured that'd be Kudu's response. If he's 300 feet away' date=' he can't really monitor for cell phones anyways. =P[/quote']

 

Well, aside from the laughable notion that anyone trained at Wood Badge would actually try Baden-Powell's Patrol System even once....

 

How exactly do you "monitor for cell phones" a Patrol backpacking without helicopters?

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/At300Feet

 

Yours at 300 feet!

[DuctTape 1230]

 

 

How exactly do you "monitor for cell phones" a Patrol backpacking without helicopters?

 

 

Yours at 300 feet!

 

Cell phones are rendered moot when one is on a trail with no service.

 

[Kudu 186]

Moot but not mute

 

Our Scouts still use airplane mode camera and music functions on trails with no service.

 

Which are increasingly rare: On the Atlantic Ocean leg of the Cumberland Island backpack trip (URL above), I had a constant signal to send continuous Facebook photo updates to families and friends worried about the severe thunderstorm forecast that day.

 

See "Cumberland Island National Seashore: Day One"

 

https://plus.google.com/100437668559826261011/posts

 

 

[Sentinel947 1205]

Well' date=' aside from the laughable notion that anyone trained at Wood Badge would actually try Baden-Powell's Patrol System even once.... How exactly do you "monitor for cell phones" a Patrol backpacking without helicopters? https://www.youtube.com/user/At300Feet Yours at 300 feet![/quote'] I'm not wood badge trained. My goal since rejoining the unit I grew up in as a adult has been to implement the patrol method in a troop that hasn't done anymore than pay it lip service in years. My comment was accurate. If you run the patrol method properly, adult leaders can't do anything about cell phones.

[Kudu 186]

If you run the patrol method properly' date=' adult leaders can't do anything about cell phones.[/quote']

 

Yes, we agree.

[perdidochas 658]

I just haven't found that smart phone use has done much negative to the scouts in my troop. We have several with smartphones, and I haven't seen the games, constant texting, and distraction. Even cheap fliphones have most of those functions. I do know that most of our leaders have and use smartphones, and maybe we are modeling the appropriate usage of them. I just don't know. If we start to have troubles we'll just institute a cyber totin' chip.

[qwazse 4342]

I see camps start charging units a fee for electricity use.

[TAHAWK 1420]

I'm not wood badge trained. My goal since rejoining the unit I grew up in as a adult has been to implement the patrol method in a troop that hasn't done anymore than pay it lip service in years. My comment was accurate. If you run the patrol method properly' date=' adult leaders can't do anything about cell phones.[/quote']

 

Respectfully, I have a different view. Under the Patrol Method, adults usually accomplish appropriate ends by influence, rather than direction. If electrical devices are seen as a serious barrier to Scouting taking place (not my view), adults leaders could do "something" by attempting to influence the ultimate decision by the leaders (Scouts) and their constituent Scouts. That process might be no more directive than helping to create a situation where the Scouts discover reasons why the devices are not appropriate or should be limited in some way(s). A "wilderness survival" campout might be encouraged where, of course, "critical" gear like electronics are lost in the "plane crash."