September 16, 2024
Are Smart Phones a benefit or a curse for the teenager in school? This is becoming a huge topic this past year or so. Logic would seem to dictate that this is a curse more than a benefit, but what does the data and expert opinion show?
The Scientific American article "Do Phone Bans Help Students Perform Better in School?" examines the growing trend of banning smartphones in schools to enhance student performance and well-being. Numerous U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have recently implemented or are considering bans on phones in classrooms. Schools use tools like the Yondr pouch, which locks phones away during school hours, to enforce these bans. These measures are popular with educators and parents, with 60% of likely voters in New York State supporting such restrictions. Charlotte Schools has this policy: "In accordance with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Student Code of Conduct, personal technology devices, including cell phones must remain off and put away during school hours. Violations will result in confiscation of the personal technology device. The district is not responsible (monetary value or replacement) for theft, loss or damage to personal technology or other electronic devices brought onto CMS property." (CMS) My informal poll has a higher number of parents interested in phone ban restrictions in North Carolina.
The current research suggests that phone bans can improve student performance, particularly for low-achieving students, by reducing distractions. A study by Louis-Philippe Beland found that banning phones increased academic outcomes, while a UNESCO report from 2023 supported the view that phones disrupt learning. (Beland et. al. 2016)(World Economic Forum) There are other researchers who don't subscribe to this reality, however, for me, logic would dictate that smart phone access and use in school has a very low value and a high risk of distracted education/complete disruption, especially for the lowest achieving students. A child or teen having or needing access to a phone for emergency is not only fleetingly rare but easily achievable by talking to a school administrator for access. Thus, that argument is weak at best. Children with diseases that are tracked by a smart phone would receive dispensation automatically, which is only logical. Texts to parents or friends during the school day are unnecessary and at best a small connection value add, assuming the flow of information is positive in nature.
The mental health impact of phone use is also a major concern. Jonathan Haidt, professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU, argues in his book the Anxious Generation, that smartphone use contributes to a mental health crisis among teenagers. In his article in The Atlantic he wrote: "something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose131 percent."(Haidt J. 2024) Statistics show us that there has been a stark rise in mental health concerns in lockstep with smartphone use in the United States.
Four major principles of screen usage concern are: addiction, attention fragmentation, sleep deprivation and social deprivation. Each of these can lead to chronic immune damaging stress that further exacerbates the mental health inflammation and fragility that we see as mood disorder. It is easy to see the addicted, sleep deprived, lonely and inattentive teenager because they are common place now. We need a level of outrage for the volume and struggle that they are experiencing and not wait for more study to prove what appears obvious.
In the SA article, they note that critics, such as Pete Etchells, caution against quick fixes and emphasize the need for balanced, evidence-based approaches. Some experts advocate for moderate use policies that teach students to manage their device use responsibly, combining phone bans with education on healthy technology habits. The logic of education regarding healthy screen choices is solid and has been around for quite some time with little to no benefit to show for. Sometimes we just need to parent up and say NO.
Unfortunately, for many children, parents are not performing their duty around screens, many addicted themselves. Thus, there are times where it makes logical sense for a school to take this approach and take on this task. Understanding screen use in school is similar to the fact that school air should be clean, food should be nourishing and stress should be contained. A school should be a place of learning and impediments to learning are the school's responsibility to mitigate if possible.
Dr. M