Image via The Washington Post
US Students Need a Cell Phone Detox
This essay was originally published in The Washington Post.
A cell phone detox for students is not a radical idea — it is an overdue one. French students are about to get a much-needed detox from their cellphones now that the government has banned them during school for kids 15 and under. When will our educational system follow France’s lead?
Sadly, most schools in the United States are turning a blind eye to a looming public health crisis. What are we waiting for? A tragedy? Ten years of data? A lost generation? Not on my watch. These are my children, their peers, and their friends. As a parent, I will not allow them to be guinea pigs or data points. We have to do something.
The Problem: Why Students Need a Cell Phone Detox Now
In the beginning, I did my best to embrace phone technology — after all, it is the future. I tried to let go and be open-minded, but I found myself in an education nightmare. While some teachers are able to control cellphones in their classrooms with innovative consequences, many either cannot or will not. Enforcing phone restrictions eats into precious class time, so some tired teachers have instead begged for 20 phone-free minutes, rewarding students with unregulated screen time for the rest of the period.
Others have adopted a disturbing “govern yourself” policy. Instead of fighting phones, they give students the freedom to choose: put them away and learn, or keep them out and do poorly. Imagine a typical middle school boy. Will rocks and minerals capture his attention or Fortnite on his phone? The answer is obvious.
So what are we left with? Lower test scores. Struggling students. Brilliant screens dulling our children’s learning, discussion, and creativity.
The Deeper Cost
And that is just scratching the surface. A cell phone detox for students is urgently needed because phones are taking an astronomical toll on the social, mental, and emotional health of our students. Bullying during school has shifted online. Lunchrooms are strangely quiet as kids play online games or pass around photos, and we wonder why kids are suffering from depression and anxiety like never before. They will never get these years back.
At my kids’ school, I have begged for a real, enforceable phone policy for two years. I came armed with research, ideas, and anecdotes, but there was always someone who could find a reason it would not work. No one was brave enough to try. Because nothing was being done on a school-wide level, I took matters into my own hands — purchasing a flip phone for my seventh-grader and installing an app that shuts off my ninth-grader’s phone during school time. Looking back on the year, they were both grateful for a less distracted opportunity to learn.
What Schools Must Do
But not every parent can or will regulate like this, so we must have policy. Public education exists to give every student a fair opportunity to learn regardless of background, socioeconomic status, or family situation. Phones — not politicians or lack of funding — are stealthily stripping that opportunity away.
School administrators everywhere must enact real, enforceable cell phone detox policies that take phones out of classrooms and put education back in. Teachers need administrative leadership and support. Our children need a fighting chance to excel in this oversaturated world. We cannot wait one year longer. Our children deserve more.
Related Reading
- how to change the cell phone policy at your school
- 10 things before getting your child a smartphone
- I love you too much to get you a phone
Helpful External Resources
Frequently Asked Questions: Cell Phone Detox for Students
Why do US students need a cell phone detox?
A cell phone detox for students is necessary because phones are taking an astronomical toll on social, mental, and emotional health beyond just distracted learning. Bullying has shifted online, lunchrooms are quiet and disconnected, anxiety and depression are at record highs. Schools are one of the few places where systemic change is possible.
Should schools ban cell phones?
Schools should enact real, enforceable cell phone policies — not suggestions, not opt-in programs, but consistent school-wide rules with clear consequences. A cell phone detox for students during school hours is not punitive; it is protective. Schools already enforce policies in the interest of learning. This is no different.
What can parents do about cell phones in their child’s school?
To advocate for a cell phone detox for students: come with data, not just emotions. Get a team — 50 parents are harder to ignore than 1. Make it clear you support educational technology; you’re against personal devices that distract from learning. If the school has a policy it doesn’t enforce, that is the place to start.
A GREAT statement of a real problem!! I am a grandparent who is often vexed by the all-consuming power of cell phones. I add my voice to yours.
Thank you so much JoAann. It is so great to know that there are so many of us in this together.
Or, it could be that parents don’t buy their children cell phones. Now THAT’s a great idea. Then, teachers don’t have to police students and students might actually get their homework done and learning may actually take place.
I agree. However, it is impossible to legislate what parents choose to do with their own children which is why I am advocating for changing things on a school wide level. These changes would benefit ALL students, those who have parents who believe in rules and restrictions and those who do not or just don’t have the time or energy to enforce them.