In 2007 the first iPhone came out, followed quickly by the iPhone 4 in 2010. That was the first model with a front facing camera. This enabled people to begin taking photos of themselves and posting them online, ushering in the concept of 'selfies'. According to a survey by Common Sense Media, by 2016 79% of teenagers owned a Smartphone. Around the same time, studies indicate that teenage depression in both girls and boys skyrocketed as did emergency room visits for self-harm, particularly for girls.
Smartphones are ubiquitous in society. Need directions to the site of the next ballgame? You phone can help with that. A new recipe for dinner tomorrow evening? Smartphone. How about an answer to a obscure question or statistic? Phone. Waiting for an appointment, dinner to arrive, or otherwise uninterested in what is going on in the real world at any particular time? You guessed it: Smartphone! The societal changes as a result of this technology are profound. We now carry in our hands more computing power than was used to launch the Apollo mission to the moon and back. We can communicate with anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. The amount of content that is available to consume, and our ability to create content: It is intoxicating and infinite. It has changed the world in many positive ways. But, there is also a darker side. It is affecting the mental health of our young people. Studies suggest that we are providing these devices to our children without moderation, and at exactly the wrong moment in their brain development.
As a species, we learn a lot of social skills like conflict resolution and handling emotions through the free play of childhood. Taking turns. Reading social cues. Following rules. All of this is an important phase in human development that happens during childhood. The prevalent use of cell phones by our youth is replacing this concept of free play, and it is short circuiting brain development with dangerous results. So much so that the surgeon general issued a warning in 2023 about the effects social media has on youth mental health.
Several months ago, the school board suggested that our cell phone policy needed to be strengthened. As this issue is being deliberated we are engaged, along with the administrators in the district in a book study. The book is titled, 'The Anxious Generation' by Jonathan Haidt. While we have just begun the study, the ideas and statistics posed in the book are quite startling and eye opening. I would invite you to grab a copy yourself and join us in the conversation! My suggestion to the board was to have an open and honest conversation with you, our stakeholders prior to making any wholesale changes to the this policy. We are very interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions on this topic. There is a very brief survey at the end of this column for you to provide you thoughts and opinions. But, as a starting point, what is our current policy on cell phones?
According to our student handbook, students in grades K-8 should not be using cellphones during the school day. They must remain in lockers during school hours. Once a student gets to high school, a bit more freedom is permitted. These students are permitted to have their phones during passing time and at lunch. The primary prohibition is that during class time they need to be put away either in their lockers or the phone caddy in the classroom. So I guess the question is, would we rather have our students interacting with one another during passing time and lunch, or with their cell phone?
We understand there are strong feelings on cell phones. That is why there is no imminent policy change on the horizon. I suspect any final action with be months away. In the interim though, the board would like to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to provide us with your thoughts. You can do so by clicking here. In the interim, I'll be sure to share with you any salient points learned during our book study. And you can be assured we'll share any proposed changes to policy before a vote takes place.
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