School phone bans spread
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Cities, states and school districts are passing sweeping bans on cellphones in schools, aiming to get kids to pay attention during class and socialize with their peers IRL.
Why it matters: On one hand, phones can be a useful learning tool and essential parent lifeline. On the other — well, they're a pretty obvious distraction.
Driving the news: It's suddenly gotten trendy to ban phones in school or make students lock them in a Yondr pouch.
- Florida and Indiana were the first states to restrict phone use in schools. California and New York may soon follow.
- Los Angeles voted to enact a ban that'll start this spring. New York City — the nation's largest school district, with 1.1 million students — plans to follow suit.
- The Phone-Free Schools Movement, founded by three moms, aims to make the policies spread.
What they're saying: "They're not just a distraction. Kids are fully addicted now to phones," NYC schools chancellor David Banks recently said on "Good Day New York."
- "I have talked to hundreds of principals around the city who have said, 'Take the phones.'"
- "I've talked to parents around the city, who I thought were going to be the biggest folks to push back. They've said, 'We recognize it as well.'"
State of play: Parents are actually the biggest obstacle to cellphone bans in schools — they want to be able to reach their kids and keep track of them.
- Students (naturally) don't want to give up their phones, but many agree that no-phone policies help them stay focused.
- Teachers and administrators are thrilled with the government-mandated restrictions — but worry about being turned into phone cops.
Where it stands: "In California, a high school teacher complains that students watch Netflix on their phones during class. In Maryland, a chemistry teacher says students use gambling apps to place bets during the school day," per the Associated Press.
- But teachers are also trying to show kids how to use the internet safely and wisely, and phones in the classroom could help.
- Florida's law mandates lessons for students in "how social media manipulates behavior."
Between the lines: The debate over phones in schools is tied to the debate over whether social media is causing depression and other mental health problems in children.
- A new book by NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, "The Anxious Generation," argues that the new "phone-based childhood" is extremely harmful, with social media a major culprit.
- He recommends keeping smartphones away from kids until high school, giving them flip-phones in middle school instead.
The other side: There should be a middle ground in which phones are allowed in the classroom for pedagogical purposes, but not for others, argues Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College who specializes in child psychology and the value of play.
- He opposes Haidt's recommendation that parents delay giving phones to their children.
- "If we think we're going to solve the problem by taking cellphones away from kids, we're not," Gray said. "If anything, were adding to their anxiety."
The bottom line: It's clear that nobody has figured out the right role of phones in schools, which is essential now that these devices are such an integral part of our lives.
