Two weeks ago, I lost an argument to my wife — and I have not been coerced in any way to make this statement.

Our TroutMan versus TroutWoman point-counterpoint on the Aug. 13 opinion page garnered a ton of feedback, especially on social media and in person.

The Facebook post — pitting us against one another by posting both links together — received more than 18,000 views. That ranks fourth in the last 28 days as of Monday, behind the double-arrest on July 28, the Through the Years article from July 23 and the story about the flipped boat dock in Eagle Rock on July 29.

I always say it’s impossible to predict how readers will truly react to an article, but I had a good feeling a husband-wife take on a school-related issue would garner some attention.

The Facebook post on our official page garnered 73 reactions and 67 comments. A post by my wife, Jordan, on her personal page got 89 reactions and 27 comments. Needless to say, the interest in the topic of the statewide cell phone ban in schools is a hot one.

The point-counterpoint came about weeks prior, when I learned of the bill that enacted the ban. I was talking to Jordan about it and my plan for news coverage, mentioning I thought it was a positive move. She, however, disagreed.

As we made dinner, we sparred the points, getting just a few in before I had the thought — this should be in print.

A bit of backstory, the point-counterpoint idea is not new to news, but we’ve never done anything so direct in the Democrat. Nearly exactly 20 years ago, at The Tiger student newspaper at Little Rock Central High School, we assigned point-counterpoint articles to staff on “pressing” issues at the school. Some were serious, like opposing opinions on the born-again Christian group who held an anti-abortion protest on our sidewalk before school started one morning, to less “important” things like the best food to get from the side cafe at the lunchroom (nacho cheese fries won that one easily).

When I proposed to Jordan we do a similar thing — but in a real, bona fide newspaper — she agreed it would be informative and entertaining.

That Tuesday morning, we sat down at the same time and penned our pieces. Then, we printed and exchanged them.

A funny thing happened. Even after we’d had a couple of discussions about the topic, when we read one another’s beliefs in written form, our first thoughts were that the other’s points were well-made.

For me, her point about raising digitally responsible children hit hard. By banning phones during the school day, we are missing an opportunity to teach kids how to be accountable or face the consequences.

For her, my point about how devices are used for bullying (referencing the Childhood 2.0 documentary) and the possibility of getting mid-day “school drama” texts hit hard.

On social media, opinions of all kinds were shared, some supporting her and others supporting me. The conversation got me thinking, in today’s polarized political climate, it was refreshing to see more than 100 comments over two posts with people solely sharing their views — no name-calling, no ideological attacks, no nastiness, just healthy conversation.

It was an entirely different conversation compared to the comments and reactions to our ICE-related coverage just weeks before that.

While cell phones in schools is not nearly as politicized as immigration, it made me proud to see our forum create positive conversation and people actually seeing one another’s points.

TroutMan versus TroutWoman is hopefully not a one-off. We had a lot of fun writing them, and probably even more fun seeing and hearing the reactions and conversation.

Jordan and I typically agree on most topics, but I have a feeling when we run across a fit-for-print disagreement again, you’ll hear about it!.

Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023.

He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he is a three-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville- democrat.com.