This editorial originally appeared in The Daily News of Longview:
We’ve known portable electronics in the classroom are a distraction for decades. Rules to keep students off their phones don’t just make sense from a discipline standpoint, they’ll be good for everyone in the long run.
Among the most consistent pieces of advice to maximize learning is to minimize distractions. But the current ecosystem of social media apps are built to maximize how distracting they can be.
Apps like Snapchat are built to call attention to themselves, to give users the feeling they might miss out on something that’s happening if they don’t stop what they’re doing and look right now. You might say their entire business is built upon being a distraction.
According to research from the University of California Irvine, it can take up to 25 minutes for the brain to fully refocus after an interruption. When a high school period is less than an hour long, a single distraction likely means a student won’t be firing on all cylinders for the bulk of that class.
In 2018, Rutgers University conducted a study on the use of phones and tablets in classrooms. Students who used a device in class score about five points lower on their final exam than those who did not. But the effects weren’t limited to single students. The study also found the presence of devices had a splash effect on classmates. Students who were in classes which allowed devices, but did not use one personally, also showed poorer exam performance.
Education may be the main job of schools, but it’s not the only benefit students draw from their time in class. The classroom is also a place where young people develop socially, figuring out how to navigate group dynamics and tackle collaborative projects.
Students aren’t interacting that way if they’re all tucked away in the little online bubble of their phone.
Yes, they can interact with others online, but the dynamics are not the same. The anonymity of online environments and the absence of many social cues like facial expression and tone of voice make the experience very different. Many environments also include tools, like blocking, that allow you to curate who you interact with in ways that don’t reflect real life.
One of many objections raised by parents regarding school lockdowns during the COVID-19 was that kids were going to miss out on social development from not being at school. But if we can’t keep smartphones out of class, they’re missing out on that growth all the same.
There are mental health concerns to consider as well. A 2024 study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found a ban on smartphones in middle schools correlated with an across-the-board reduction in bullying, as well as a significant decline in the demand on mental health services for girls. Female student also showed an increased GPA post-ban. These effects had an increased effect among lower-income students.
Parents may be concerned about losing communication with their kids. But their good intentions of wanting to coordinate may be reinforcing bad habits.
As adults, it’s important we lead by example. Find out when your kid is allowed to use their phone so that, if you do need to communicate with them, you can do so during that time. Demonstrate that you don’t have to immediately respond to every notification on your device, especially when you’re doing something important.
In the event of a true emergency, it might seem comforting to have a connection to your child. But Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, warned the National Education Association that could be counterproductive in a 2023 interview. When lives are at risk, he said, we need everyone fully present and attentive, following emergency plans and listening for commands, not taking calls or sending texts. The noise of phones could even draw attention to people trying to hide.
Modern technology has made it easy to expect quick responses from anyone we reach out to. The way our phones beg for attention any time we get a message perpetuates the expectation that people will drop what they’re doing to respond. It’s not a great habit to be in, plus it’s also perpetuated some bad habits that we are now passing on to the next generation.
Keeping phones out of the classroom might be met with some gnashing of teeth from students, but ultimately, it’s for the best. Not only is it likely to correlate to positive change both academically and personally, but it might help us adults get into better habits as well.
