Phones are undeniably a staple of today’s adolescents and adults—phones and teenage kids are synonymous in many people’s minds. Just twenty-five years ago, phones were nowhere near as common and hadn’t yet grown to the key place they hold in society now. Because of that, policies around phones are only recently catching up, especially within educational institutions. More specifically: public schools. But is introducing harsh policies the best solution? As of right now, the answer cannot be a solid yes.
School kids and phone use has become one of many problems educators face. 72% of high school teachers say that phones being a distraction is a major problem according to the Pew Research Center. And with 95% of teenagers having access to phones, it’s not surprising.
In response to this issue, over half of the states have implemented statewide phone policies, many of which being outright bans on phone use during school hours. Even without a legal requirement, a majority of school districts have their own policies regarding phones. When looking at the broad data regarding these bans, it’s easy to think that it’s the best course of action.
Since restrictions on phones have been utilized, there has been an increase in student focus and socialization. Yondr pouches (a magnetic pouch where kids place their phone that unlocks at the end of the day) are just one way schools limit phones. According to the company itself, 83% of schools that used them reported higher student engagement. Grades have also gone up, with a study in England finding that low achieving students had an improvement in grades by about 14%. With all this data showing positive effects of stricter phone policy, what could possibly be the problem?
The Looked Over Downsides
While phones are a distraction, they’re a distraction for a reason. Modern day phones are a necessity. Teenagers, even kids, use them for communication between parents, siblings, guardians and work. The school days are too long for students to not have access to an important device. Many school-aged kids rely on others for transportation, or are tasked with picking up siblings after school. Without phones, it makes planning and clarification extremely difficult, especially if a change happens last minute. A relative could be in the hospital or need them home right away, and immediate updates and access to communication is vital in these situations.
Schools do acknowledge this issue; however, their solutions simply aren’t effective enough. A common thing done to make communication between students and the outside world possible is school encouraging students to use the school’s phone itself, or go to a specialized room to only briefly access their phone to respond. The problem with this is that it relies on both parties being aware of this introduced hardship to communication and planning around that. Also, it introduces another issue that still remains unresolved: how are students meant to know if they need to respond to a text / call if they can’t check their phone in the first place? While email can be an alternative that comes to mind, many schools don’t allow students to check their personal email, where any non-school related communications would likely be headed.
Another problem with phone bans is the nature of phones themselves–they are inseparable from society and won’t be going away anytime soon. Changes in technological advancements have been adopted by schools before. As personal devices became generalized, schools started to give students Chromebooks or iPads and largely became digitized in classwork and teaching. Why are phones the exception to this adoption? It’s not as if school issued devices aren’t a distraction, either. Watching games and videos on them while the student is meant to be doing work or listening is just as prominent as phone use. 56% of educators in a national representative survey said off task behavior on computers is a major distraction and problem.
Unlike phones, schools have not rolled back this use in technology despite its distracting properties, instead opting for another solution–teaching students how to properly use them. As far as computers go, schools acknowledge that they’re too essential to get rid of and now are helping students use them in a productive way. This not only benefits the students’ grades but also their future, as if they can be taught to use technology in a way that won’t make them prone to its many distractions.
An associate professor at Harvard, Micheal Rich, advocates for the same treatment regarding phones, claiming that phones can be a useful tool if kids are taught the right skills. Students not being able to have access to their phones in schools may also cause them becoming more stuck to it after the bell rings, possibly feeling the need to make up for lost time and notifications. If kids can be taught how to handle technology in a healthy way at a young age, then it will stick with them throughout their life as that skill will be cemented early on.
So, where does that leave us? While phone bans show initial positive results academically, there are many more sides to this issue than phone bans simply don’t consider. These policies and practices are also fairly new, and their long-term impact and effectiveness cannot yet be determined. Denying kids phones can cause just as many issues as they have in the classroom, and until schools can properly solve and manage the many problems that come with the ban, the ban shouldn’t be put in place.
