On the first day of summer classes at Evanston Township High School in May, students were asked to switch off their cell phones and place them in storage units freshly installed at the entrance of each classroom.
The storage units are the high school’s latest step to do the seemingly impossible: separate students from their phones. Other schools in the Chicago area are also considering similar policies to limit phone use in classes — all to avoid distraction, encourage students to be social during breaks and curb bullying.
This comes amid a bipartisan, nationwide debate about whether smartphones are contributing to an ongoing youth mental health crisis. Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for warning labels on social media platforms to “regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proven safe.” And California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a statewide ban on smartphone use in California schools.
While some states like neighboring Indiana already have issued their own bans, Illinois has not, and a spokesman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there are no plans to consider a statewide policy to dramatically restrict phone use during the school day. Despite the growing unease about the impact of cell phone use on kids and teens, the decision to ban cell phones from classrooms raises lots of questions, including from parents who want access to their kids in an emergency.
Taya Kinzie, the principal at Evanston High School, said their new policy still allows for students to be on their phones during breaks between classes, but “cell phones in classrooms disrupt the learning process. They can also harm student-to-student relationships. Students might be sitting next to their best friend in class and still be on their phones.”
Chicago Public Schools leaves it up to individual campuses to determine their own policies, as do many other local districts.
Limiting class distractions
People of all ages have the perceived need to constantly check their phones, said Jocelyn Smith Carter, a clinical psychology professor at DePaul University.
“When people are exposed to new information, they get an increase in the amount of dopamine in their brain receptors,” Carter said. “That’s pleasurable, and so they want more of that.”
But what we know about teens,” she added,” is that they don’t have the necessary brain development and capacity to inhibit that impulse.”
As a result, young people get more easily distracted by phone notifications, Carter said. That’s why she supports school policies that remove cell phones from students during class.
“Decades of research show kids do best when they have rules that are consistently enforced by caregivers who provide a lot of support and explanation for why they’re setting those rules,” Carter said.
Kinzie said the students at Evanston High School are still adapting to the new policy. When someone doesn’t place their phone in the storage unit, they are given a reminder “to do the right thing.” If they continue to break the new rule, Kinzie said teachers try to educate them instead of taking punitive measures.
Some Evanston High School students like Allyson Tran, 13, don’t think the new policy has changed much.
“I don’t mind [the new rule] because I feel like cell phones aren’t needed in the classroom,” Allyson said. “I only go on my phone if I am bored in class and not really doing anything. So the cell phone policy may be inconvenient when I’m bored, but for learning purposes, I think it’s OK.”
TJ Gant Jr, 14, described the new policy as “terrible” and said he is still getting used to parting with his phone, unlike some of his peers who place burner phones into the storage units instead of their real ones.
Cyberbullying
Principals are hopeful that removing cell phones from classrooms can help in the fight against cyberbullying.
Jennifer Miyoko Sutton, the principal of Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, a CPS high school, said there have been several instances of students recording or taking photos of their classmates or teachers during class. They then upload that content online where they could make harmful comments or invite peers to do the same.
But the Northwest Side school issued a no phone-in-class policy this past school year, which Sutton said has contributed to a decline in online bullying.
Kenwood Academy High School Principal Karen Calloway said up to 90% of the conflicts among students at her South Side CPS school start on social media.
Although Kenwood classrooms are equipped with phone lockers, Calloway said they do not have a schoolwide no phone-in-class policy because she wants “students to make their own decisions of when it’s appropriate to use their phones,” as they would in a college setting.
Still, Calloway is considering a schoolwide policy that would ban the use of cell phones throughout the entire school day.
“We’re in the process of surveying teachers and parents and seeing when they think students should be using cell phones because it’s not just a disruption for academics,” Calloway said. “It causes possible bullying situations of students and teachers being recorded without their permission. These are things that cause problems during the school day and when students get home.”
Navigating emergencies
Evanston High School underwent a similar surveying process before adopting its new policy.
Though most parents support the new policy, Principal Kinzie said some fear they won’t be able to reach their child in an emergency, such as an active shooter threat.
But cell phones can distract students from following the school’s safety protocols that instruct them to run, hide or fight, Kinzie said.
Meghan Residori, an elementary school teacher at a North Side CPS school, agrees.
“If we’re in a lockdown,” Residori said, “and every kid has a phone or a smartwatch and they’re calling home, then their attention is no longer on me and I can’t communicate with them.”
Though most of her students are too young to have phones, Residori said many wear smartwatches to school which can be equally distracting. Residori also thinks CPS-issued devices such as iPads and Chromebooks can also be a problem, as she’s seen students use them to play games like Fortnite.
That’s why she hopes CPS considers taking stricter measures to limit the use of such gadgets in elementary and high school classrooms ahead of the new school year.
Anna Savchenko is a reporter for WBEZ. You can reach her at asavchenko@wbez.org.
