Time for New Strategies

The studies are abundant and clear — the prevalence of smartphones and social media in our lives has had a profound impact on mental health for adults, teens and children, fundamentally changing the way we communicate and interact with each other, increasing anxiety and depression.

While this is certainly an issue not limited to youth, they are at the greatest risk, with many parents — and school districts — working to develop strategies to mitigate the impacts of a technology that is not going anywhere and is leading many teens down a road marked by isolation and confusion.

The Express has weighed in a number of times on the Sag Harbor School District’s decision to use magnetic Yondr pouches to lock students’ cellphones away during the school day, praising the district for taking action to curb some of the distraction that comes with cellphone access during a school day. Other districts have more relaxed policies surrounding cellphones, but most at least provide storage systems in classrooms where teachers can ask kids to put their phones away. It’s an effort and a nod to the growing concerns, but it’s not nearly enough.

Many districts allow students to use cellphones in between classes or during lunch and recess periods — traditionally critical times for socialization with their peers. Instead, we often see an army of teenagers scrolling, clicking and shooting photos and videos rather than connecting with their friends in a substantive way. As Russell Shaw, a school administrator from Washington, D.C., wrote in The Atlantic last week, “Phones teach our students to abandon the eyes of the person they’re speaking to in order to glance at a newly arrived text or Snapchat message … They undermine the very skills we aim to impart: the ability to engage deeply, to hold complexity, to build meaningful community … I believe that those who are responsible for the well-being of children can no longer ignore the reality that phones in schools are doing more harm than good — distracting students, isolating them, and creating unhealthy echo chambers that undermine critical thinking.”

We consistently hear from school administrators that mental health is a priority in how they educate our children, and there’s no reason to believe they are being insincere.

But is a simple school cellphone ban really enough?

Natasha Singer, a technology reporter with The New York Times, appeared on The Daily podcast last week. She outlined the different ways in which schools are addressing the problem, from Sag Harbor’s approach of a complete ban to other districts where phone usage is not allowed during the day, but students keep their phones in their bags or pockets. Singer talked about a school in Florida where students are allowed to keep their phones, but the school hired staff to monitor their usage, with a variety of punishments for those who decide to cheat the system. At this particular school, students were said to be playing pickleball and ping pong during lunch, and actually talking and laughing with each other, rather than disappearing into the digital void.

Understandably, parents feel a desire to reach their children during the school day, particularly in the wake of events like school shootings — tragically common in the United States with another taking place just last week in Georgia. The approach of the school in Florida makes perfect sense — be strict with your cellphone ban, but still allow parents the ability to reach their children in an emergency.

“If the goal is to try to help kids have a healthier, more creative relationship to technology,” Singer said on The Times’ podcast, “then maybe we have to have a bigger, more holistic effort. Maybe we have to do a more intensive job of helping kids think about all these fast-moving digital innovations and what their benefits are and what their drawbacks are, and how they can think critically about them and navigate them.”

This can be achieved — and in some cases districts have already moved in this direction — by adding a segment on technology to a health class, or even more robust programming that is required year-round, to highlight and promote best practices with the use of technology. Ask the students to explore if social media apps make them feel anxious or distracted. Require students to engage in some introspection and intentionally cultivate self-awareness when it comes to how the phones make them feel. For many, it may make them feel anxious, distracted, or out of sorts. For some, having their phone locked in a pouch all day and not being able to access it until the day is over could be anxiety provoking.

These devices aren’t going away. Children and adults need to find a way to make peace with them, and getting there takes work. It’s also not a one-size-fits-all approach.

“It’s much, much harder to think about how we can give children and teenagers more agency over these powerful tools they use and more ability to ask critical questions about how these devices are shaping and shunting their lives,” Singer explained on The Daily. “That’s a much more complicated ask than just saying lock up your phone during class.”

And that’s an important point. Maybe a simple ban on phones or just locking them away is taking the easy way out. It’s time to really talk to our children about the challenges they’re facing. And let’s ask them to look us in the eyes while we do it.