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- Florida and Indiana passed laws to ban cellphones during class; New York may join.
- My children go to school in Montclair, New Jersey, and the district is planning to do the same.
- I support the move because, as a teacher, I understand how phones are distractions in the classroom.
Schools seem to quickly be changing the rules around cellphones.
Florida and Indiana have already passed legislation to keep phones out of the classroom during instructional time. New York may soon follow.
My family currently lives in Montclair, New Jersey. I have two children. The youngest is a rising 6th grader, and my older son is a rising 10th grader. Our school district says it plans to pilot a no-phones policy this fall.
Some of our district's teachers already require students to place their phones in clear over-the-door shoe holders when entering the classroom. But now, our district is taking things a step further. They're partnering with a company that supplies magnetic pouches for smartphones. Once the pouch is closed, you can't open it unless you take it to the docking station.
As a mother and educator, I am willing to accept these new cellphone policy changes.
My oldest son has a cellphone
My husband and I planned to give my older son a phone in 8th grade. But then the pandemic hit, and we wanted him to have a way to connect with school friends. So he got a phone when he was 11. But we didn't permit social media.
It wasn't a huge deal because even now, at 15, he's not a big social media kid. Mostly, he texts friends about meeting up for soccer games and checking sports scores. At times, it's been tough because many coaches use Facebook to connect with players.
My younger son is 11. He recently told us he doesn't want a phone because he knows he won't be able to stop streaming Lego videos on YouTube. He's also acutely aware of group chat drama. Earlier this year, a group of kids at his school got caught up in a nasty group chat that included racist and homophobic language. While my son wasn't involved, he observed how these chats can be dangerous and disruptive.
My son isn't alone. School safety experts — like Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Services — say there are many reasons phones don't belong in schools. He writes on his site that smartphones have been used for cyberbullying, starting fights, and making threats against students.
I know firsthand that teens struggle with impulse control
A recent Pew Research Center study found that 72% of high school teachers in the US said cellphones are distracting students in class.
As an educator, I know this struggle intimately. I've taught media writing and journalism for over 15 years at Columbia University, Montclair State, and Seton Hall. I also run an afterschool enrichment course in the same field for elementary students.
I would love it if I didn't have to compete for my university students' attention. Not only are they distracted by screens, but they tend to make many errors when working online. They misspell words and ignore basic grammar rules, like beginning a sentence with a capital letter. I once conducted an experiment and asked them to handwrite their classwork. It was a reading response assignment that required a lot of writing. I was curious if the quality of work would improve. It did.
Occasionally, I have asked my students to put away their phones, but they are sneaky and put them on their laps. I've got the same issue with laptop computers in class. Getting students to pay attention to the lesson in front of them is hard. I tell them I'll upload PowerPoints after class, yet they're still tied to their screens. They'd rather be doing Wordle or Connections or tinkering with other assignments.
I wish my college would ban phones or other electronics in classes, but I know it's a pipe dream.
I'm ready to try a new policy — for my sons and my students
Some parents in my local school district object to a no-phone zone. They worry that they won't be able to reach their child during the day. I can relate to this, but it doesn't keep me up at night.
Other parents want to be able to text their kids about rides home. Do I like being able to text my son during the school day? Of course. I've been known to text my son to remind him of a guitar lesson or a haircut. But is this level of communication necessary? Probably not. And definitely not during bio class.
There's likely no one-size-fits-all solution for reducing cellphone use in school, but as an educator and a parent, I'm willing to test the waters. The haircut reminder can wait.