If you have not been in a college classroom recently, you might be surprised at just how glued to their phones students are. Phones are basically like slot machines in Vegas – students at constantly on their phone, afraid of missing out on a post, request or the next cool thing to do. When parents ask for a solution, I’m often at a loss of how they can encourage responsible phone use when kids are at school.
But some folks want to change that. Two college students looked around one day during a huge freshman year class in 2014 and noticed every face was lit by the glow of a phone. No one was paying attention. They decided to do something about it.
Pocket Points is an app that middle school, high school and college students can download onto their phone or iPad. Once students open the Pocket Points app and lock their phone, they start to accumulate points. The longer their phone stays locked, the more points they can get.
Points are also awarded based on how many people are on the app at a time. The app is free and only works on a campus that’s identified by Pocket Points. Students can redeem their points for free or discounted items from local vendors.
To see if your son or daughter’s school is part of the program check out Pocket Points at https://pocketpoints.com/schools. It’s not a perfect setup and there are plenty of ways to game the system but let’s give thanks that it’s not another sticky social media app.