As smartphones have become ubiquitous among teens, schools have increasingly had to wrestle with the problem of managing their use in class.
While some educators feel there’s a place for smartphones in the classroom, others see them as a distraction and source of cyberbullying. And research indicates they can have a negative effect on learning and attention. By 2020, 77% of schools reported prohibiting cellphones for non-academic use, according to the federal National Center for Education Statistics.
When schools shifted to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, policies to limit or ban cellphones became meaningless, as many students relied on their phones for both schoolwork and entertainment.
Now, educators say they’re seeing smartphone dependence become a difficult habit to break in classrooms that are hoping to return to pre-pandemic procedures.
“I don’t blame (students). They’re conditioned,” says Nicholas Ferroni, a social and cultural studies teacher at Union High School in New Jersey. “It’s social conditioning, and trying to get them to unlearn that behavior is incredibly difficult.”
While some school districts have enacted cellphone bans in the wake of the pandemic, others are reestablishing guidelines that were in place beforehand. State legislatures, like in California, have also weighed in on the issue in recent years, giving districts the authority to limit or ban smartphones in schools.
Randall Skrinjorich, superintendent of Ringgold School District in Pennsylvania, says that pre-pandemic, his district had a policy limiting cellphone use in class.
“During COVID, although the policy was in place, there was a greater need for electronic devices. And so we probably got a little bit lax on it,” Skrinjorich says. “Then, starting to come out of COVID, at the end of last year, we started encountering some of the behavior issues and discipline issues related to it.”
For the 2022-2023 school year he announced stricter guidelines that prohibit cellphone use during the school day and mandate specific penalties for each offense.
In a letter to parents, he noted that the local police department had “documented 56 criminal incidents in the last school year where students used cellphone communication with fellow students to plan fights, harass other students, coordinate vaping ‘gatherings’ in school bathrooms, vandalize property and commit other criminal mischief.”
Although some parents have complained about the cellphone ban, Skrinjorich says that overall the policy seems to be a net positive.
Should Cellphones Be Allowed in School?
Answering that question often depends on the school, or even the specific teacher.
Over 90% of principals in a 2020 study supported restrictions on cellphone use for students in middle and high schools, and over 80% said they believed that cellphone use during school has negative consequences for social development and academics. But the specifics on what people consider appropriate use can vary.
In some classes, students use cellphones for instructional tools and games like Quizlet, Kahoot! and others. Amber Snell, a teacher at Madison Middle School in Richmond, Kentucky, says she previously let her students use cellphones to listen to music while working in class and didn’t see phones as a problem. But this fall, her school enacted a new rule banning cellphones during the school day.
Snell, who teaches primarily seventh graders, says she’s been surprised at how well her students have adjusted to the new policy and hasn’t seen any real issues with students disobeying it. There haven’t been as many incidents of cyberbullying or students using social media for harm during the school day this year either, she says.
“I think the eighth graders are probably struggling a little bit more,” she says, “because they went through the pandemic as sixth graders, seventh graders, and had a little bit more of that flexibility. And they’re now trying to reel it back.”
Ferroni, who has a large social media following himself, says he recognizes that technology is a “necessary evil,” and has seen students use cellphones and social media to stay connected to each other and encourage positive change around the school. But those activities are best done outside of class, he says.
For some students, the connectivity aspect is crucial, says Sourav Sengupta, an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Buffalo. But some have a hard time knowing where to draw the line on cellphones and risk becoming too dependent on them as a primary means of communication. He says being present in real life and developing strong interpersonal connections is still vital to success in adult life.
“Adult life requires moderation,” he says. “Ultimately, part of growing up is knowing how to moderate that experience, and frankly social technologies are no different, except that they might be a little more habit-forming.”
Mental Health Concerns
Ferroni did an experiment with his class in which he asked them to turn their notifications on. In a 40-minute class period, his students received a total of 600 notifications. He says he can’t compete with students’ attention in class when they’re distracted that often.
“It is a drug addiction in their hand,” he says. “They have everything at their fingertips. It’s caused me to reevaluate how I teach, which is why in the last few years, I’ve gone away from technology.”
While cellphones are prohibited at all times in his classroom, Fridays are completely tech-free, meaning students play board games, draw, write or do “anything that requires some mental stimulation that’s outside of typing, or texting or anything on their phones,” Ferroni says.
Sengupta, who studies the effect of screen time on adolescents, says he has concerns about the impact that cellphones and social media have on the cognitive development of adolescents, especially their attention spans.
“A lot of the social technology — whether it’s social media, streaming video or app-based video games — they’re all designed to provide a big hit of dopamine very quickly,” Sengupta says. “It’s got to be super sensory-stimulating from the get-go or else you’ve lost them.”
That could have a lasting impact on adolescents’ ability to perform tasks that require extended attention and sustained focus, he says. Scores on the ACT for the class of 2022 were down to an average composite score of 19.8 out of 36, the lowest average in more than 30 years. While many factors contribute to that statistic, Ferroni says he thinks students’ shortening attention spans have made it harder for them to sit for long tests.
Cellphones and School Safety
Opponents of prohibitive cellphone policies say access to devices is necessary in case of an emergency, like a school shooting, health-related episode or natural disaster.
But Ken Trump, president of the school safety consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, says students’ focus should not be on their phone during a potential school emergency.
“If we’re relying on the kids to make the 911 calls, we really do have a bigger problem that goes beyond cellphone issues,” he says.
Trump, who leads school safety trainings across the country, says he’s sympathetic to the argument that some students might feel safer with access to their phone or a way to communicate with parents, but he says most schools he’s worked with use a mass text message system to communicate quickly with parents during an emergency.
If students are on their phone, potentially recording video, that distraction could be detrimental, he says.
“They’re not realizing that the use of the cell phone could make a child less safe in a school because it’s distracting from their ability to pay 100% attention to the directions of the adults and follow steps that could save their life,” he says.
Where to Go Next
In the wake of the pandemic, with many students still struggling both academically and emotionally, Sengupta says this is a critical time in education.
The adults in students’ lives need to model responsible technology and social media practices, he says. “I think, right now, that is largely lacking across most of our educational and social institutions.”
He supports school districts that have implemented restrictions on cellphone use. But “at the same time, I don’t think we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he says.
“I think there’s a way to harness digital social technologies that can really be amazing for children,” he says. “Let’s make it a value added and not a constant background or foreground presence in their attention.”
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Cellphones in School: What to Know originally appeared on usnews.com
