Massachusetts considers banning cell phones at school
This is exciting - to have a state talking about banning cell phones at school.
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has started discussing options to silence cell phones to help kids learn. And they’re funding the idea - the state would “likely” move to offer grants of up to $1 million to districts seeking to add cell phone restriction policies, said DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley.
The policies may ban the use of phones on campus entirely — using devices like lockable “Yondr Pouches” or old-fashioned lockers — or restricting use in class, but not in areas like hallways or lunchrooms.
“What happened in the year and a half during the time kids were on Zoom [during the pandemic] is a lot of them ended up on phones and YouTube and on social media,” said Traci Walker Griffith, principal of the Eliot K-8 Innovation School in Roslindale, which uses pouches to deactivate phones during school. “This is not new to all of you. However, when we reopened in fall of 2021 … in a couple of months we realized cellphones were really now a huge problem.”
Cell phone distractions at school are happening everywhere
Teachers around the country have stories of confiscating cell phones in their classrooms and dealing with extra entertainment tabs open on internet browsers when students are supposed to be working in class. It’s a nightmare!
Teachers need to be teaching and connecting with their students during the day, not policing devices and screen time.
Now is a great time to start a conversation about all the benefits of reducing screens, phones and access to social media at school. There are benefits for kids and adults both. Take this report on Social Media Harms from the Surgeon General with you.