At a time when we can’t seem to agree on anything, one sentiment bridges the political gap among “The Olds”: kids today spend too much time on their phones. I don’t disagree.
But that pixelated genie is out of the digital bottle. These are kids, primarily teenagers, whose frontal lobes aren’t yet fully-formed. Telling them they can’t do something only makes them want it more. We will not regulate their addiction away by putting the cookie jar where they can’t reach it.
As the parent of a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old, for example, cell phones are banned at our dinner table. But with everyone instantly and perpetually connected, FOMO is at an all-time high, and being left out of the loop can be (or feel like) social suicide. Thanks, Mom.
As a parent, it’s difficult to relate (having grown up in the Stone Age) but teenage communication and socialization is not substantively different today. Communication counters isolation and they’re still talking to one another, just by way of their fingers. The behavior itself is not new (recall the telephone relays you engaged in at that age) only the technology is.
When I see my kids’ heads buried in their phones, they are usually engaged in modern conversation, their thumbs flying faster than their tongues ever could. I don’t understand most of the memes they share, but is sharing a Distracted Boyfriend image so different from voicing “Talk to the hand” or “Wasssuuuppp?”
My sympathies for our addicted adolescents wane, however when it comes to phones in school. It is a problem, full stop. Teachers are rightfully frustrated, and this behavior should not be tolerated, full stop. Just like talking during class is a problem; passing notes; daydreaming. The proposed solution is to ban cell phone use in all schools.
But why, in a school setting, would we not teach our kids the same lessons of agency and accountability we impart when they talk in class, pass notes, or are similarly disruptive or distracted? Instead, by removing the ability for students to prove themselves or fail, the lesson is that not only do they not have our trust, but they aren’t even given the opportunity to earn it.
How’s that for engendering self-confidence and personal responsibility in the precise age-group that needs it the most? Not to mention that this does nothing to alleviate the addiction, rather, it fuels it by further fetishizing the devices. Demerits, detention, loss of privileges, parental involvement are tools used for every other form of misbehavior in school, which teach consequences without infantilizing students, some of whom are age 18.
Beyond the pedagogic, enacting a system-wide ban on cell phones in NYC schools is costly and impractical, at a time when our schools can’t afford either. The cost of the hardware (typically Yondr pouches) that will imprison the phones for a school of 1,000 students is approximately $30,000. This does not include the additional hourly cost for staff to open and close the pouches.
School budgets are stretched thin as it is, and equity implications once again abound: money that comes out of a school’s allotment for things like enrichment programs or field trips can be supplemented with PTA funds from schools that can raise large amounts. Schools that can’t will simply lose out.
The school day will certainly not be lengthened to accommodate the twice daily pouching and unpouching; time spent at the expense of student learning (and student sleep). Large schools already have long lines to enter in the morning to simply swipe ID cards. Adding this time-consuming ritual means longer commutes and less sleep. Imagine how long it would take the 6,000-plus students of Brooklyn Tech to go through this every day.
I’m not suggesting that we throw our hands up and give kids unfettered access to their phones and the internet. Parental controls, dinner table rules, and screen time limits are all tools at our disposal. As are demerits, detentions, loss of privileges, and any other consequence facing a student who breaks the rules. The lessons learned from screwing up and facing consequences are invaluable.
Metal detectors in schools are disfavored in part because they signal to students that they are bad actors before they walk through the door. Locking up phones may not be as overtly offensive, but it sends the same message: you can’t be trusted. Given that this proposal isn’t net neutral, Gov. Hochul and city Schools Chancellor David Banks should consider the trade-offs and not throw the baby out with the smartphone.
Alexander is a public school parent and Bronx representative on the Citywide Council on High Schools.
