Why not phone free

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP, I will only say this anonymously because it's such a controversial opinion and I don't enjoy starting conflict, but I actually don't love phone free bell to bell policies in high school, and prefer for high school age students to have access to their phones at lunch/breaks, with strict consequences if use is inappropriate or disruptive to class time. High school students can be juggling a lot, including commitments outside of school such as family, non-school social circles, jobs, and non-school related activities like significant volunteer experiences. I don't see the benefit to such students from being completely unreachable 7-9 hours a day at school, if they can use phones responsibly when they have a few minutes free during the day.

I graduated from high school in 2012 and am currently the guardian of 2 teens in high school (complex family situation, they're not mine biologically) and the biological parent of twins in preschool. When I was in high school we still had "flip phones" aka "dumb phones" and I remember needing to check my voicemail and text messages between classes & at lunch to keep up with everything. Similarly, my teenagers have a lot going on and their school's recent shift to completely phone free has been a terrible fit for my kids so far. Not a fan, as I personally see few benefits and several drawbacks.

You're totally right about the need to juggle/manage – but I think that's an argument against phones rather than for them. It's hard enough for adults not to check their phones every two minutes. Kids are even less able to regulate that impulse, and it's incredibly distracting. Even if they're not being openly disruptive, they're still glancing down, task-switching, going to the bathroom for 10 minutes, etc. And I don't blame them! Phones, and especially endless-scroll social media apps, are designed to be addictive.

I graduated HS in the early 2000s, so no one had individual phones yet. I was involved in a competitive/travel-heavy activity and went to school a decent commute from my house, and this was all totally manageable with advance planning. I did have a school email account, but I needed to go to the library computers to check it.

+1.

On top of all this, if kids are so busy then having that phone free lunch/break gives them relaxed time to talk face-to-face with friends. All that research we keep seeing about loneliness and it's impact on teen mental health can be blunted by giving kids this time where they have to interact in-person if they're interacting at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, we're at public, and I dislike that they're required (per state law) to lock their phones up all day. My kid isn't on their phone all day when they're not at school. They should have access during breaks and at lunch.

+1

This is ridicululous for high school seniors. They are not first graders.

[Anonymous]

It's not ridiculous at all. The mental health risks of social media are well known.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP, I will only say this anonymously because it's such a controversial opinion and I don't enjoy starting conflict, but I actually don't love phone free bell to bell policies in high school, and prefer for high school age students to have access to their phones at lunch/breaks, with strict consequences if use is inappropriate or disruptive to class time. High school students can be juggling a lot, including commitments outside of school such as family, non-school social circles, jobs, and non-school related activities like significant volunteer experiences. I don't see the benefit to such students from being completely unreachable 7-9 hours a day at school, if they can use phones responsibly when they have a few minutes free during the day.

I graduated from high school in 2012 and am currently the guardian of 2 teens in high school (complex family situation, they're not mine biologically) and the biological parent of twins in preschool. When I was in high school we still had "flip phones" aka "dumb phones" and I remember needing to check my voicemail and text messages between classes & at lunch to keep up with everything. Similarly, my teenagers have a lot going on and their school's recent shift to completely phone free has been a terrible fit for my kids so far. Not a fan, as I personally see few benefits and several drawbacks.

I think maybe you are too young to remember that it being disconnected all day was the norm for most of our history. I went to high school in the 1990s, and i was a private high school teacher in the 2000s before smartphones. We were all completely fine! No one couldnt "keep up" with their communications. we and my students had full social lives, jobs, volunteer work, etc and we all managed to do it without being tethered to a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, we're at public, and I dislike that they're required (per state law) to lock their phones up all day. My kid isn't on their phone all day when they're not at school. They should have access during breaks and at lunch.

+1

This is ridicululous for high school seniors. They are not first graders.

No, but neither are they 30-somethings with fully developed brains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP, I will only say this anonymously because it's such a controversial opinion and I don't enjoy starting conflict, but I actually don't love phone free bell to bell policies in high school, and prefer for high school age students to have access to their phones at lunch/breaks, with strict consequences if use is inappropriate or disruptive to class time. High school students can be juggling a lot, including commitments outside of school such as family, non-school social circles, jobs, and non-school related activities like significant volunteer experiences. I don't see the benefit to such students from being completely unreachable 7-9 hours a day at school, if they can use phones responsibly when they have a few minutes free during the day.

I graduated from high school in 2012 and am currently the guardian of 2 teens in high school (complex family situation, they're not mine biologically) and the biological parent of twins in preschool. When I was in high school we still had "flip phones" aka "dumb phones" and I remember needing to check my voicemail and text messages between classes & at lunch to keep up with everything. Similarly, my teenagers have a lot going on and their school's recent shift to completely phone free has been a terrible fit for my kids so far. Not a fan, as I personally see few benefits and several drawbacks.

I think maybe you are too young to remember that it being disconnected all day was the norm for most of our history. I went to high school in the 1990s, and i was a private high school teacher in the 2000s before smartphones. We were all completely fine! No one couldnt "keep up" with their communications. we and my students had full social lives, jobs, volunteer work, etc and we all managed to do it without being tethered to a phone.

We didn't even have email. If we had places to be after school, we made a plan beforehand with our parents and stuck to it. If anything changed then we took a quarter out of our pocket and used a pay phone. Somehow we managed.

But now we wonder why kids don't have any executive functioning skills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret has terrible phone policies

Such as?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP, I will only say this anonymously because it's such a controversial opinion and I don't enjoy starting conflict, but I actually don't love phone free bell to bell policies in high school, and prefer for high school age students to have access to their phones at lunch/breaks, with strict consequences if use is inappropriate or disruptive to class time. High school students can be juggling a lot, including commitments outside of school such as family, non-school social circles, jobs, and non-school related activities like significant volunteer experiences. I don't see the benefit to such students from being completely unreachable 7-9 hours a day at school, if they can use phones responsibly when they have a few minutes free during the day.

I graduated from high school in 2012 and am currently the guardian of 2 teens in high school (complex family situation, they're not mine biologically) and the biological parent of twins in preschool. When I was in high school we still had "flip phones" aka "dumb phones" and I remember needing to check my voicemail and text messages between classes & at lunch to keep up with everything. Similarly, my teenagers have a lot going on and their school's recent shift to completely phone free has been a terrible fit for my kids so far. Not a fan, as I personally see few benefits and several drawbacks.

I think maybe you are too young to remember that it being disconnected all day was the norm for most of our history. I went to high school in the 1990s, and i was a private high school teacher in the 2000s before smartphones. We were all completely fine! No one couldnt "keep up" with their communications. we and my students had full social lives, jobs, volunteer work, etc and we all managed to do it without being tethered to a phone.

We didn't even have email. If we had places to be after school, we made a plan beforehand with our parents and stuck to it. If anything changed then we took a quarter out of our pocket and used a pay phone. Somehow we managed.

But now we wonder why kids don't have any executive functioning skills?

Agree 100% with this comment. We were able to keep up with communications just fine in the pre-phone, pre-email, pre-computer era. And please do not tell me we weren't as busy then because I assure you I was very busy with academics and sports and a part time job.

I think so often we are focused on the harmful effects of social media (and I agree SM sucks), but I think it's bigger than that; it's the computer in our pocket that is the issue. They've become social and executive function crutches. Learn to navigate from point A to point B without a computer. Learn that a last minute text to a coach when you are expected is not acceptable. Learn how to look friends and adults in the eye. Learn to deal with challenging social situations face to face vs hiding behind a screen. Learn how to remember an upcoming dentist appointment or game without a reminder text. Learn to check your email and manage your assignments without the assistance of your parents. Etc

[Anonymous]

I have no issue with (and actually approve of) phone bans, but the argument that “we handled communications just fine without cell phones” is silly. We handled communications just fine because no one else had phones either. No one’s afterschool job was trying to reach them to see if they could pick up an extra shift today or tell them they didn’t need to show up because things are slow. No one’s kid brother was texting asking to be picked up from a friend’s house instead of baseball practice. No one’s friend group was trying to coordinate lunch plans on the fly in a group chat. None of these things are emergencies or a reason not to have cell phone bans, but “communications” simply looked very different and had very different expectations of access than the world today.

The way we did or did not handle things is really not relevant anymore, in very, very many aspects of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no issue with (and actually approve of) phone bans, but the argument that “we handled communications just fine without cell phones” is silly. We handled communications just fine because no one else had phones either. No one’s afterschool job was trying to reach them to see if they could pick up an extra shift today or tell them they didn’t need to show up because things are slow. No one’s kid brother was texting asking to be picked up from a friend’s house instead of baseball practice. No one’s friend group was trying to coordinate lunch plans on the fly in a group chat. None of these things are emergencies or a reason not to have cell phone bans, but “communications” simply looked very different and had very different expectations of access than the world today.

The way we did or did not handle things is really not relevant anymore, in very, very many aspects of life.

You're not wrong that society has changed; however, we still have the free will to decide how we want to navigate the modern world. If an employer is calling or texting in the middle of the day and DC doesn't answer because they are in class, my response is "oh well," and if they don't need you to come in for your shift, DC will see that text at the final bell. DC can also let that employer know that they do not have access to their phone during school hours (people who employ high school students are aware of school rules around phones). There's no scenario where my daughter would need to know that my son needs to go to Freddy's house instead of baseball in the middle of French class. An after-school change of little brother's plans would be one she'd see at 3 pm. Friend groups at school coordinating lunch plans at school is a non-issue if no one has their phone. Kids make plans after morning assembly (or whatever). My point is that we've allowed the phone to dictate immediate access to each other, and it now feels necessary, but it does not need to be this way--or certainly not for middle and high school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are public schools so far ahead with bell to bell phone free while private schools lets students keep their phones and just “put them away” during class?

This is a total generalization. My kid’s school bans phones during the school day.

[Anonymous]

We tour SSSAS US and they allowed phones at break and at lunch. There were a lot of kids on their phones sitting near but not talking to each other. I think as a student new to the school it might be harder to meet people—unless you are extremely outgoing—when there aren’t lunch table convos etc. I could see my own somewhat introverted DC just relying on the phone in times of awkwardness etc

[Anonymous]

I should add this was last year. Not sure of current policy at SSSAS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tour SSSAS US and they allowed phones at break and at lunch. There were a lot of kids on their phones sitting near but not talking to each other. I think as a student new to the school it might be harder to meet people—unless you are extremely outgoing—when there aren’t lunch table convos etc. I could see my own somewhat introverted DC just relying on the phone in times of awkwardness etc

You must have toured last year because the policy changed to a full ban at the beginning of this school year.

[Anonymous]

Kids' school has no electronic devices at all, K-6.

Phones turned in a the front desk on arrival 7-12, available after school hours. Harsh consequences if not.

Laptops allowed 9-12 only during study hall, screens turned so that they're viewable.

Even here, a large majority of kids have phones by 9th. But at least my kid is not the only one who doesn't yet have one.