Jj is for Jottings 158.  Smartphones in Schools.

A few days ago (July 2023) in Australia, smartphones in schools were banned.  Some states had already banned or restricted their use, but the ban is now nationwide.  The ban also includes smartwatches.  There are quite a few reasons to ban smartphones in schools given below, but there is also the overriding factor of how smartphones affect the brain.

REASONS TO BAN SMARTPHONES IN SCHOOLS.

1. Improvement in Academic Performance.

There have been a number of studies around the world.  A study from the United States found that, when schools banned smartphones, grades quickly improved overall.  Test scores increased by an average of 6% because students were now more attentive in class.

There was a greater effect on older students, who are the most likely to be addicted to their phones.

A 2015 study examined the relationship between mobile phone use in class and the comprehension of information.  Results showed that students who were texting in class had significantly lower test scores. This difference occurred even when the material presented was simple.  It is clear: mobile phone use in class impairs students’ comprehension and performance.  This study corroborated the results of several similar past studies.

Teachers report that concentration plummets when there is a mobile phone sitting on the desk.  I would have thought that obvious, even in the absence of any studies.  Just looking around you anywhere in public and you can see how people are distracted by the presence of their mobile phones.

2. At-Risk Students.

The improvements gained from having smartphones removed during class is even greater with at-risk students.  Students who live in poverty, require special education input, or who have below average grades benefit twice as much from removal of smartphones in class.  What a simple – and free – way to give struggling students a boost.

3. Cuts Down on Screen Time.

The effects of screen time on children has been discussed in an earlier article.  And the effects of parents’ screen time on their children has also been covered.  Many children spend up to 6 hours of screen time out of school, so minimising screen time at school by banning smartphones has to be a good thing.

4. Outside the Classroom.

Educators spend many hours every week dealing with the fallout of smartphone use in the school yard.  Some real examples include:

• Tik Tok challenges being implemented in the school yard. One child chokes another as a result of doing the blackout challenge.
• An 11-year-old sharing porn with his whole class.
• A 17-year-old sending naked photos of his ex-partner to her entire sports team.
• A 14-year-old sending a topless photo of her frenemy to every boy in Year 9 at another school.
• A school principal having to call parents to explain that she had come by a topless photo of their 14-year-old daughter.
• Teens spending lunchtime uploading naked photos on sites where they earn much better money than if they had an after school job.
• Overseas call centres focus on school areas where they bribe children into uploading indecent videos, which they share across the world.

 

These are all true examples of what has happened in Australian schools which have allowed unrestricted smartphone use.

This leads to…

5. Cyberbullying.

Educators can sometimes detect real life bullying and take steps to intervene.  They can’t detect the silent bullying that goes on via mobile phones – both in class and out in the yard.

By their mid-teens, some students have reported how the mobile phone has become weaponised in the school yard.  Bullies use them to torment, belittle and isolate others.  Children should feel safe at school and not have to continually check their social media accounts to see if a peer is posting cruel or harassing messages.

Teachers shouldn’t have to take on the role of police or social worker in addition to doing what they are trained to do.  The problems caused by phones in school serve to dilute children’s education.

6. Real-Life Interactions.

Schools have flagged the fact that the social skills of tweens (not yet teenagers) have been severely affected by being wedded to their phones.  This is even to the point where some are unable to look each other in the eye, preferring to send a text instead.

I’ve always felt that even speaking on the phone is preferable to texting, because you get auditory clues from the other person’s delivery.  Then you can circumvent misunderstandings by being able to immediately repair the situation.  Of course, face to face is even better, because then you have visual cues as well.  That is, if you can bear to look the other person in the eye!

I was working in a school which had a change of principal.  The new principal sent (many) emails to staff instead of speaking to them directly.  This was not a large school, so there was not the excuse of time and distance. It would have been very easy to physically catch up with a teacher, as all previous principals had done.  And it didn’t go down at all well with the staff, which was completely understandable.  And the result was that it changed the culture of the school in a negative way.

7. What Will We Do at Lunchtime Without our Phones?

Educators in schools where phone bans had already been implemented say that students engage in a lot more physical activity.  Students are more likely to be out on the oval than hanging around near the lockers with their phones.  And reading and playing chess in the library have also exploded in popularity.

I would suggest that, where schools have not previously had a smartphone ban and are now having to respond to the nationwide ban, it would be good policy to actually organise some choices of outdoor and indoor activities, perhaps in the form of clubs.  I remember one of the staff at a nearby secondary school used to play cards one lunch-time a week with students.  The student who told me this struggled with his schoolwork, and this activity provided a real highlight in his week.  And perhaps a little maths and memory work.

When I was at secondary school, in winter every lunch-time there was a huge game of bush hockey taking place on the lower oval.  It was initiated by the students, and you joined in either the “ties-in” or “ties-out” team, and could drop in and out as you pleased.  Huge numbers of students participated.  It was heaps of fun, great exercise, warmed you up, and got your brain active and oxygenated for the afternoon lessons.  Of course, smartphones didn’t exist then, and we were good at initiating our own entertainment.

8. Parent-Child Contact During School Hours.

I remember a friend telling me that she was showing parents around their middle years school, and she was explaining the “no mobile phones during school hours” policy.  The parents protested.  “What if we need to contact our child during the day?”  It’s quite simple – do what people did before mobile phones existed.  Ring the school and they will take a message to the child.  How often would that be necessary anyway?  In the thirteen years I was at school, I don’t recall my mother ever having to contact me at school.  But if she had and I’ve forgotten, that’s what would have happened.  It seems that some parents feel that schools are violating their right to contact their children during school hours.

What About an Emergency Situation?

And what about the distracting effects of the parents interrupting their child and, possibly, other students nearby?  If a child has their phone with them “in case of an emergency”, they would have to leave their phone on and also check it constantly to ensure they’d receive the message.  They would probably be wading through a lot of distracting, non-emergency messages throughout the school day on the off chance that they may receive something important.

Schools can answer the argument that parents need to monitor their children to ensure they get safely to and from school by making provision for safe storage of students’ phones during the school day.  They can sign them in on arrival at school and sign them out at the other end of the day.

And if a student needs to contact parents?  Once again, for a reasonable request the student can go to the office and ask to make the call.  I remember having an unexpected hockey match and going to the office to ask them if I could ring Mum and ask her to bring my hockey stick to school.  Not a problem.  (Hockey seems to be featuring largely in this article!)

9. A Reasonable Exception to Phone Bans in Schools.

There is an exception to the phone ban in schools.   A very small percentage of children rely on their phones for health reasons.  Monitoring blood sugar levels in Type 1 diabetes would possibly be the most likely one.  Obviously, in a case like this, the school must make an exception to the ban, and clearly explain the reason to the rest of the students.

 

SMARTPHONE USE OUTSIDE SCHOOL.

Of course, students can use their smartphones in many undesirable ways outside school hours.  But that doesn’t directly interfere with their education, and is a parenting issue.

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