Head Back-To-School with Palm
Back-to-school can be a bittersweet time for parents and children alike. For parents, the mornings are peaceful and the house is clean, but we miss our little ones. For kids, they’ve got their new outfits and they’re seeing their best friends everyday, but history class can be a drag.
As we send our kids off to school this year, we need to think about how we are going to keep in touch throughout the day. Parents these days are increasingly sending their kids to school with smartphones, if only so they can contact each other in case of an emergency.
But sending your child to school with a typical smartphone can hinder their education. These huge phones are basically mini entertainment centers, which give children instant access to all their favorite Netflix series, YouTubers and social media content—that is, stuff that will distract them from their schooling. So, it can be a little daunting when we think about sending them off to school with all this content.
No matter what grade your kid is going into this year, many parents have been finding that Palm is the perfect phone for sending their kids off to school.
Palm isn’t just kid-friendly because it is small and fits well in their smaller hands and pockets.
Palm is also great for young students because it lets them focus. We designed Palm with a feature called Life Mode which turns off all notifications when the screen is off, so you only get your texts and calls when you wake the screen. We call it Life Mode, but it when comes to school, it might as well be called Classroom Mode. It won’t be ringing in a backpack or vibrating on the desk, distracting your kid, and the rest of the class.
In addition to Life Mode, there are a number of apps you can use on Palm to restrict what your children can access and monitor their activity. With Google Family Link, for example, you can set time limits, restrict certain apps during certain times of the day, and monitor your child’s device throughout the day. You can rest assured that your children are protected from harmful content, even when they are away from home.
If you’re worried about sending your kids off to school with a fully connected, huge smartphone, spare a thought for the teachers who have to wrestle for your student’s attention for the next 8 hours. Even without the distractions of smartphones, it’s hard enough for teachers to keep kids engaged in geography, English and math. Teachers are going to love the student who shows up with a Palm that doesn’t make a peep all day. But, teachers won’t just love Palm for their students.
We’ve found a number of teachers who use Palm to separate their professional and personal lives. These days, parents reach out to teachers on a daily basis. We had a teacher tell us that she was constantly getting texts and calls late into the night—on her personal phone number—from parents asking about everything from how their kid behaved in class that day to that night's homework assignments. She didn’t know what to do because she cared deeply about her students’ education but she also needed her little bit of time off in the evening to relax and recenter (that is, keep her sanity!). Her unexpected solution? She bought a Palm and set it up as a standalone device. Using Palm as her work phone, she gave parents’ the new number and stopped getting calls on her personal device. She sets Palm on Life Mode in the evening so that she gets no notifications from calls or texts until she turns on the screen. Silence is rare and appreciated commodity for a 4th grade teacher.
It’s easy to see why parents, teachers and students love Palm. And, there’s never been a better time to take your back-to-school shopping to the next level. You can now buy an unlocked Palm that can be set up to use with most major mobile carriers, so you can connect on your terms. If you’re looking for a more affordable to stay connected, we’ve partnered with US Mobile to create unique, no-contract plans, with some starting as low as $5/month and the first month is free. Palm is an affordable and reliable way to stay connected this school year, so be sure to get yours today.