“An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production.”
– Robin Sharma

So, after almost a whole school year with a new technological devices policy in place, how’s it going? We are already seeing some very good results, but other aspects merit further discussion and possible changes.

To remind you of the policy, cell phones for students in grades PK-3-8 are not allowed on campus or at school-related events. In Upper School, students may have their cell phones on their person, except in class when they must place them in a holder as they enter the classroom. We allow students in high school to have their phones since we want to be able to reach sophomores-seniors if they go off campus in accordance with that long-standing policy.

I believe we can say that the policy for Little/Lower/Middle School students has been an unqualified success. Initially, we figured we would have to also implement the new disciplinary consequences included in the policy. The first time a student uses their phone at school, we confiscate it, call parents, and return the phone at the end of the day; the second time, the parent must come to school for a discussion about their child’s violations of the policy and to receive the phone.

I am happy to report that our students have followed the policy, and consequently, we have not had to institute disciplinary measures, except on two occasions. This has been both a wonderful surprise and a testament to the quality of our students. Good work Cobras!

Head of Lower/Middle School Mallory Matthews described implementing the new policies by saying, “This year, we strictly enforced the middle school technology device policies. While there may have been some grumblings at first, students really stepped up to the expectation and took the policy seriously. With their phones off, there is a more singular focus on classroom learning and our students continue to have meaningful social time together during unstructured times like lunch and before and after school. Middle school students are not distracted by the thought of what could be coming through on their phone and, when with friends, they are able to be present and engaged in what each other is saying or doing, rather than scrolling or posting stories. Maintaining such a space is incredibly important, and I believe we will continue to see the benefits. Our middle school students are definitely receiving much fewer text messages from home throughout the day, though I am aware that some students and families have taken to communicating via email. While sometimes innocent, emailing can also cause distraction or put additional pressure on a student. In middle school, students need the opportunity to grow into independent and capable individuals who are responsible self-advocates and problem solvers.”

In the Upper School, students have been appropriate most of the time. More often than not, students enter the classroom, place their phones in the caddie, and get to work. Students have shared that the absence of their phones has made it much easier to concentrate and devote their full attention to that day’s lesson. It has been heartening to hear students acknowledge the benefits of their not having their phones on them during class.

Unfortunately, Upper Schoolers don’t always follow the policy. For example, we have seen times when students don’t place their phones in holders, especially when there’s a substitute. Other times, students have hidden the devices in their laps, and been caught scrolling when an administrator walks by. And in some cases that stunned us adults, individual students have put one phone in the caddy and been on a second phone surreptitiously hidden under the desk. This type of behavior from our students baffles and concerns us.

Similarly, outside of the classroom, there is still work to do. While some students remain largely phone free by choice throughout the day, it is easy to observe students in lounge spaces sitting side by side with one another in what a decade ago would have been lively conversational and bonding activities. Too many times students are engaged only on their phones and not with each other. It seems like a great opportunity lost, especially compared to what students report the experience is like on the OE trips when devices are largely unavailable. This isn’t to blame the students- experts design these devices to be difficult to stay away from- but we want to work with students to find better ways to make sure the allure of screens doesn’t pull them away from more meaningful face to face interactions.

In addition, not having phones on OE trips in the Lower/Middle School and Upper School students turning them into chaperones once we reach base camp has transformed the experience. Students have been much more focused and present on these trips, and here again, students have recognized the benefits of being offline for a few days.

This is similar to what I hear from heads of other schools that have instituted policies like ours or even stricter practices. They have shared how much more communal their schools feel, and in some cases, parents have remarked how much more pleasant life is at home when students don’t have their phones during the day and can ease their technological addiction.

One of the disappointments in the implementation of our policy, though, is how quickly students get lost in their phones during Upper School free periods, lunch, and passing periods. While our students have been mostly very good with turning in their phones during class, as soon as they exit the classroom, their faces are glued to their phones to the point that I regularly have to remind them to be careful where they are walking, particularly when it’s up and down stairs.

Sadly, also during lunch and free periods, high school students who could be engaged in conversation with one another will stare at their phones and sometimes barely interact with one another. Teachers have noticed this as well and remarked on how disheartening it feels to see students neglecting one another to look at their phones. It’s not this way all the time and with every student, but it is there more than we would wish and does make us wonder how different our community would feel if students only had their phones when they left campus.

Bill Spedding, Head of Upper School, echoes some of these concerns. “The impact of, as one MIT researcher calls it, being ‘forever elsewhere’ often stunts relationship skill development and the essential human ability to sustain attention. The constant consumption of social media messaging seems to be, as Jonathan Haigt describes in The Anxious Generation, ‘the most efficient conformity engine ever invented.’ Adolescence is an age of discovering self-identity, developing contrary opinions, and learning emotionally healthy ways of negotiating those within a social web. These ‘soft skills’ are likely even more important than some of the facts/skills taught in academic instruction and are an essential part of school life. While many students identify what is lost when too involved in screens, it is a shame that even more don’t and even those that do can get pulled back so easily if the norm around a social space is being engaged in screens. I think these phenomena warrant a deeper look into our current policies to explore how to help students make the wisest choices possible to develop all of their human potential.”

A recent Harvard School of Education magazine describes the phenomenon in depressing detail: “If as soon as [students] leave the classroom, they pull out their phones, they’re not there in the hallway with their peers in the same way,” says an administrator at a school that adopted a no-phone policy.
I recall decades ago when schools introduced laptops for their students and administrators shared their thoughts on the benefits of this new technology. One head of school commented enthusiastically, “our lunches have never been so quiet!” since the students were all on their devices. Although he found this change positive, many of us groaned and reconsidered whether we really wanted to go down this road after all.

The Harvard Education school article, “No Signal,” had other interesting and thought provoking suggestions, like engaging with students in dialogue around the school’s policies and adding things to do, like board games, for students if phones are banned during the day.

As an evidence-based school, we are committed to studying the potential benefits and liabilities before we introduce a new policy; in the same way, we will continually reassess and re-evaluate following its implementation.