5 Reasons for Schools To Go Phone Free

How much time do you spend on your phone each day? If you’re anything like the average U.S. adult, according to a recent YouGov poll you’re averaging more than 5 hours a day of screen time— and that doesn’t even take into account your TV, smart fridge and robot vacuum cleaner. We all know that our overuse of screen-based devices is a problem, with a large percentage of adults actively attempting to limit their screentime.

Now imagine if you’d had an iPad since you were in diapers. That’s the reality for many of the Gen Alpha students who are using their phones for an average of 1 hour of school time each day, playing games, scrolling on social media, and watching videos.

Young people are becoming more aware of the problem with cell phone dependency, but it’s not as easy as telling them to just “put down their phones” as adults often say. These distraction machines are built to keep their attention, even when they should be focused on learning or connecting with peers.

With school-age kids spending more than half of their waking hours in school, it is important that schools create an environment for children to develop the skills they need to succeed, including how to learn, think, and connect without screens.  

Here are 5 reasons our schools should go phone free:

Up to 97% of students report using their phones during the day — spending an average of 1 hour of class time on social media, YouTube, or gaming.

And the distraction isn’t limited to just the student on their phone. Phone use during class creates a ripple effect, distracting all the students around them, and even students in other classrooms who may be receiving text messages or DMs from their friends.

A pair of studies out of the University of California show that it takes between 8 and 23 minutes to refocus after being distracted. Meaning, one distraction from a phone might cause a student to lose focus for nearly half a class period.

UPenn Professor of Psychology, Angela Duckworth laid the issue out clearly— the further students are from their phones, the higher their GPA.

With the heartbreaking frequency of school-wide emergencies in the U.S., it is completely understandable that parents and families may be nervous about the idea of students not having access to their phones throughout the school day.

But, researchers and safety experts, including the Association of School Resource Officers, have consistently concluded that students’ access to cell phones actually make them less safe in an emergency situation.

During a school-wide emergency, it is critical that students are able to focus on receiving potentially life-saving instructions from staff, resource officers, and first responders. When they’re on their phones, they can be distracted, or cause others to miss instructions. And when hundreds or even thousands of students attempt to make calls on their phones at once, it can clog the networks and hinder emergency responders from communicating during an emergency.

That’s why any proposed cell phone policy must clearly outline contingencies for school-wide emergencies such as text or email emergency communication systems for families to stay informed on what is happening in their school, without leading to dangerous confusion and distraction. Families must have a voice in deciding these systems to ensure they work for the entire school community.

There is an abundance of evidence that links extensive cell phone usage to negative mental health effects on young people. Young people who spend a lot of time on their phones report increased levels of anxiety, including social media driven anxiety.

These anxieties include low self-esteem caused by the endless comparison from social media which acts as a highlight reel, making it appear that everyone else is more attractive, more social, and more successful than you.

Anxiety is also driven by current events, breaking news, and other points of fear-inducing content that, while important for young people to stay informed, in the massive quantities and graphic details shown on social can have detrimental mental health effects on children.

Students at schools who have already gone phone-free report feeling less anxiety, and increased self-esteem.

It is up to parents to determine the right balance of social media use for their children, but our schools do have a responsibility to ensure classrooms are safe, affirming spaces that allow students to develop into healthy, well-rounded community members.

So many young people today struggle to connect with their peers, and deal with serious social anxiety, much of which can be linked to social media and screens in general.

Phone-free schools allow students to actually talk to each other between classes and at lunch time, rather than immediately putting their AirPods in and scrolling on their phones.

Schools with phone-free policies report students talking with each other, creating new clubs to learn skills like crocheting or woodworking, and building connections across class years!

If the above reasons weren’t enough, then think of the teachers!

Even the most interactive lesson plan is going to have an impossible time competing with TikTok for students’ attention. It’s no wonder that 83% of educators support full-day cell phone bans.

While the national teacher shortage and teachers leaving the field have stabilized since the extreme highs at the start of the pandemic, there are still over 400,000 teacher positions in the U.S. that are unfilled, underfilled, or filled by people who do not meet the qualifications (such as those without a teaching license). 53% of teachers report feeling burnout, with teachers being more likely than other workers to report poor wellbeing on every indicator.

If districts want to hire and retain qualified educators, they need to do their part to reduce the burden on already over-stretched teachers and staff. That includes removing distractions from their classrooms that don’t allow then to do their job effectively.

Our schools must establish clear, consistent, effective cell phone policies that address the harms of in-school cell phone use. Across the country, principals and school leaders have proven that phone-free policies are possible — and powerful.