I never thought I would ever say this, but kudos to Doug Ford and the Ontario government.

Just to add a caveat, there a lot of things I don’t like about the Ford government. In fact, the list is too long to write here or else I would run out of space. But their decision to ban cell phones from the classroom starting next fall is bloody brilliant. It should have been done eons ago when the first kid was caught checking his Instagram messages in biology class.

Social media is a scourge and it’s too tempting for any teenager to have a smartphone in a classroom and not be expected to check their messages while the teacher has their back turned.

In fact, if it were up to me, they would be banned from school property entirely, along with calculators up to Grade 11 and only if they are needed for calculus, trigonometry and advanced algebra.

It’s about time our schools got back to the basics. And don’t give me that BS that your child needs to have a cell phone so you can get a hold of them in an emergency. You can get a hold of them the old fashioned way – by calling the school office. The staff will be more than happy to pass on your message.

I know it might be hard for anyone under the age of 25 to believe this, but there was a time when we didn’t have smartphones and tablets, or even Facebook. And those of us who lived through those times managed to get through our courses, pass our exams and graduate without them quite fine, thank you very much.

In researching the subject, I came across a study that was done on the pros and cons of allowing the use of smartphones at school. Among the findings was the claim that students who use smartphones in the classroom were more likely to “feel smart”, be happier and show interest in their subjects than students who didn’t have smartphones. The catch is that the finding was the result of student survey. They asked a bunch of high school students if having a smartphone in school helped them feel smart, be happier and show a greater interest in their subjects. If the response wasn’t a 100 per cent in favour I would question the veracity of the survey.

I’m sure you would get the same response if you offered them a $50 per diem for going to class.

Since when did you have to feel smart, be happy and show an interest in your subjects in order to do well at school? And why on earth does anyone need a smartphone and access to the Internet in order to feel smart and be happy?

When you start to measure your happiness by a high tech barometer, you know you’re in trouble.

They call it social media, but in fact Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are incredibly antisocial. We are raising an entire generation who will have lost the art of holding an intelligent conversation. Any effort to reverse that trend, or at least delay it, is okay with me.