Fostering Digital Detox in High School Classrooms
By: Tracy Gerhardt-Cooper
Tags: Smartphones, Teaching, Parenting, Digital, Education

The research is clear — and alarming

In an article outlining a recent study, The Guardian reported: “[o]ne in four children and young people could have problematic smartphone use.” The data is derived from over 40,000 participants from multiple continents and is not limited to a single country or demographic.

Cell phone use is linked to increased mental health issues. Students overusing smartphones were notably more prone to “anxiety, feelings of stress and poor sleep as well as poorer educational attainment” according to the Guardian article.

In 2018, Pew Research noted that “45% of teens say they use the internet ‘almost constantly,’ a figure that has nearly doubled from the 24% who said this in the 2014–2015 survey.” This percentage is in addition to a further “44% say they go online several times a day, meaning roughly nine-in-ten teens go online at least multiple times per day.”

While they may not all be overusing their phones, they are using them enough to raise concerns and create disruption in the classroom. My career is uniquely positioned — half pre-smartphone era, half during the smartphone era. I’ve observed some interesting trends in my sixteen years as an educator.

Fighting the digital dragon

Ever since smartphones hit the market over a decade ago, my classroom dynamic has been on a slow downhill slide. Such technology allows unlimited texting and social media use, as well as increased opportunities for cheating. All of this is detrimental to academic growth. This is to say nothing of the impact on classroom culture and interpersonal relationships.

Besides the impact on students, unmitigated cell phone access began to have an impact on me as an educator. Instead of focusing on instruction and positive interactions with students, I became a real-life game of Whack-a-Mole. As I told one student to put her phone away, another across the room would get his out to answer a text.

As more and more students got smartphones, it became exhausting to manage. Even worse, it was an obstacle to uninterrupted instruction and learning. Frankly, the parents didn’t help by texting their children while they were sitting in class.

Something had to give.

Competing for attention with a pocket-sized, bottomless supply of dopamine is no easy task. Plus I have to contend with a lack of administrative guidance on the issue. Our school doesn’t have a cohesive cell-phone policy. Board policy is vague and unhelpful at the district level as well. I had to take matters into my own hands.

In an act of desperation, I went on Amazon to see if I could get something to hang in my classroom closet to store phones. After looking around for a good deal that would fit my needs, I found a $15 numbered cell phone holder with hooks.

SPOILER: This is the best money I’ve ever spent for my classroom.

Image courtesy Amazon.com

A new normal

I had no idea what the students’ response would be. Perhaps I’d have an even bigger battle on my hands than if I allowed them to keep their phones and continued playing Whack-a-Mole. Either way, I knew I had to try it.

The policy is simple: Before the second bell rings to begin class, phones go in the pockets. When the bell rings to leave, you can take your phone as you go.

Each student has a numbered classroom computer, which corresponds to the number on the pocket. The pocket is in my classroom closet, so it is out of sight during class.

On the first day of school, I rolled out the new policy. Amazingly, there was less resistance than expected. Since I established it from the first day as a classroom norm, students had an easier time complying with the request.

Not only has this policy helped me spend more time actually teaching, but it’s also helped the students. They are more relaxed. Notifications don’t set them on edge because they want to sneak and look at their phones. The students chat with me and each other more.

Nobody’s parents have complained. In fact, the parents who attended Back to School Night seemed impressed and a little relieved that I’d taken this stance.

Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

Don’t feed the need

I don’t ask students to do anything on their cell phones in class. They use the computers provided. By having them separate from their phones for the duration of the class, the need to check them obsessively is automatically removed from their consciousness.

Parents should talk to their kids about phone use, including the proper use of texting and social media. Healthy dialogue and setting positive examples in the home can help curtail the number of problems teachers see in the classroom. It can also prevent undue heartache or repercussions for using smartphone technology in inappropriate ways.

Insisting on a phone-free dinner table and screen-free time after a certain hour of the evening will promote family connection and improve adolescent sleep. Teens need boundaries and modeling of the expected behaviors. We cannot expect them to self-regulate without adult influence.

My eighth-grader just got my old smartphone (her first) and is not permitted to be on any form of social media. She can text, use YouTube, play a couple of games, and make calls. In time, I will allow her to have Instagram and help her with privacy settings. We’ll talk about the appropriate use of the platform and check in often to see what’s going on.

Hopefully, by providing support and boundaries, she will develop a healthy relationship with smartphone technology and keep the real world her main focus. It’s a big, wide, wonderful world. I’d hate her to miss out on it.