iPods banned in Sydney school for breeding "social isolation"

So it's not like this is the first we're hearing of The Fear that technology will destroy the fabric of all social life. But it's the first we've heard of a school actually banning iPods as a result of that fear. Students attending Syndney, Australia's private International Grammar School are being asked either to leave the white gadgets at home, or to place them in a locked drawer during the duration of the school day — because they enable students to "avoid communication with others" and may lead to "social isolation or escape from our community." Somehow we doubt teenagers' desire to escape from the community originated with the iPod, and we also doubt there will be a mass communication breakdown no matter how much they turn up the Zeppelin. But hey, now the students can bond over how much this ban sucks, and that's community right there, folks.

[Via iPod lounge]