The children on the bus go chat,chat,chat…….not anymore it seems.

JaneJudge

I used to listen to music on the bus on an old sony walkman

You must be younger than me ....
45s had only just been invented ?

Well first day at the new school yesterday, taken by Mummy and Daddy, this was a resounding hit!
Tears as she got on the bus for the first time this morning but lots of happy emojis sent this evening from the bus!
An older girl has taken her under her wing.

I used to listen to music on the bus on an old sony walkman

My guess is that 99% of the children using their phones while on the bus are chatting anyway - it's just that they are doing it via this modern silent method, and are chatting with friends who are elsewhere, rather than eith the person next to them.

There's no comparison between that and a parent, or anyone else who is actively accompanying another person, ignoring them in favour of their phone.

in my opinion the obsession with mobile phones is a bad thing. 99% of female carers on buses are occupied by phones. Male carers are much better. At one time the elderly passengers would smile and talk to children on the buses but now masks prevent that interaction. It is sad that young children have phones.

We didn’t have a School bus but the normal service bus I remember there was always a lot of chatting going on but we were well behaved as we had School uniforms on and had to behave or we would be “reported” by someone for not behaving. We were NOT quiet!

Hithere

It is not sad

Times change, no big deal

I disagree, this should be the time that the children have a chatter and catch up with friends. They will lose the art of communicating and picking up social cues, such essential soft skills that employers say are lacking these days. It’s so sad!

Paralympics should not have come into the text here computers fail sorry!

I think parents are Paralympics to blame , we have some young mums passing our house daily often alone pushing a pram/stroller totally ignoring the child in the pram children will grow up thinking this is what they do looking at their phone ignoring the surroundings, this IS sad. Put your phone away and talk to your children this is how they learn.

When my DSs were little we would constantly be chatting as we pointed out things of interest whilst in the car or on a bus.
I still chuckle when recalling on one occasion whilst travelling alone pointing out a John Deer tractor to a complete stranger sat beside me.?
The numerous games played on car journeys.
I spy with my little eye something beginning with X asked my 6yr son.DH, myself, MIL and older DS tried to guess with no success.Admitting defeat DS announced EXHAUST. How we laughed and the story has been repeated many times.
Now we see DGC with their iPads /phones wearing headphones oblivious of their surroundings.
This generation are certainly without tech fear but I do feel worried for their personal interaction skills and can see the mental health problems caused by the constant use of social media.

There wasn’t a school bus but I got a card giving me free use of any bus between my school and home. About 9 miles. I was the only girl from my junior school to start at this grammar school and my bus journey took me on routes mainly used by people on their way to work. Mornings were ok. People in the bus queue always insisted the conductor let me on the bus even if it was crowded. However on the way home, no school child was allowed on the bus except by a very few conductors. Many a time it took up to 4 hours to get home. Not pleasant for an 11yr old. Luckily I went to a boarding school after a term of getting to hate the bus journey.

How very sad the way life is evolving humans will lose the way to talk and walk they will be in the caves pressing buttons on the laptops

The conductors on our school/public service bus were very strict. They would sometimes throw a load of boys off, halfway home, sometimes girls had to sit downstairs, boys up. We were a mixture of at least three schools and it was chaos. I pity the poor workers on the bus with us.

It annoys me when I see young mums on their phones, ignoring their children

School bus in the late 1950s was a war zone. Boys from Secondary Modern School snatched the Grammar School girls' berets and threw them out of the window just as the bus was moving off. Shouts of "Grammar bugs, pull your lugs". It was an ordinary service bus but largely avoided by other travellers during school travel times.

A child might tell you nobody talks to each other on the school bus but it might not be actually true!

Before mobiles and tablets it was horrendous on buses with schoolchildren. Every other word an obscenity, shouting, fighting and throwing things.spitting. I was once on the lower deck of a bus when all the schoolboy occupants of the back seat decided to have a pee and the resulting liquid ran down to the front of the bus under our seats. Thank goodness for technology if it’s subdued their natural urges.

hilz

No chatter. I think that's sad but if it's true, it must be bliss for the driver.

Yes!

There used to be a conductor on our school bus (conductress) in the olden days.
She was very scary.
I remember losing my 1½d fare once and she was going to throw me off to make my own way to school aged 7. Somehow I pleaded my case and she let me stay on.

No chatter. I think that's sad but if it's true, it must be bliss for the driver.

Scools usually forbid phone use withon school, however important socialisation goes on outside of school.
At senior school here they have to use an app their phones to buy lunch.

My children used to say the bus to and from school was the best part of the day… this was before mobile phones tho!

I think we are talking about several different things.
Our DGC school bus is the rural bus which brings all the children from rural areas, farms etc into the town each day. It is paid for by the council and it is purely for children, not a public service.

50 miles away, I sometimes catch a bus at school closing time and regret it as the older children pour on and shout and shove, as you have described here. They are just letting off steam and I would be one of them back in the day.

Another phenomenon, which I hate, are the parents who never make eye contact with their children from birth onwards. I have seen bottles propped in buggies. It makes me sad.

Luckily there are still some parents who hold their infants, look out the window, talk to them and interact. This makes me pleased.

Presumably, the children have talked at break at school.

I never wanted to talk on the way home from school - I had done more than enough talking to my schoolfriends between lessons.

If children these days choose to relax playing computer games on the way home, is it really any skin of your nose?

Do you positively know that they are not texting each other, thus chatting electronically?

The children I taught did not play games on their phones or laptops while at school - they talked and played with each other.

The school bus round here is quite noisy. A burst of energy after being in school all day. I have to admit I avoid it if I can.
I don't mind it so badly if they don't swear, particularly the f word, and don't bully each other. If only.
I have posted on here before about how todays phones get in the way of communication between parents and children. The kids are just following an example, and yes, I find it sad.
After that terrible storm years ago when trees were blown down and the power was cut for ages, my girls, and their friends who could not get to school, played board games,, generally chatted and said it was such a fun day after all. I always remember it as the day we discovered talking to each other again.

Our school bus was awful. Lots of verbal abuse, shouting, pushing and shoving. I preferred the hours walk instead. If children are quietly looking at phones it would be preferable to what I endured.

On primary school busses phones are not the general rule so a lot of children do chat. Once nearing secondary age phones become a must have accessory and on secondary school busses heads are usually down looking at phones. What's being viewed is anyone's guess. I see both groups waiting on busses and the primary kids are generally running, chasing about. Secondary stand looking at phones with occasional acknowledgement of friend joining the group. Phones are part and parcel of life now. However adults ignoring youngsters who speak to them is something I see day in and say out and find it awful. Children in pushchairs facing the adult and watch them drift along using their phone or chatting on the phone is another social change. No wonder children shout so much, must stem from trying to get attention.