In “This Florida School District Banned Cellphones. Here’s What Happened,” Natasha Singer writes that in the wake of Orlando’s new policy, which bars students from using cellphones during the entire school day, student engagement increased, but so did the hunt for contraband phones:
One afternoon last month, hundreds of students at Timber Creek High School in Orlando poured into the campus’s sprawling central courtyard to hang out and eat lunch. For members of an extremely online generation, their activities were decidedly analog.
Dozens sat in small groups, animatedly talking with one another. Others played pickleball on makeshift lunchtime courts. There was not a cellphone in sight — and that was no accident.
In May, Florida passed a law requiring public school districts to impose rules barring student cellphone use during class time. This fall, Orange County Public Schools — which includes Timber Creek High — went even further, barring students from using cellphones during the entire school day.
In interviews, a dozen Orange County parents and students all said they supported the no-phone rules during class. But they objected to their district’s stricter, daylong ban.
Parents said their children should be able to contact them directly during free periods, while students described the all-day ban as unfair and infantilizing.
“They expect us to take responsibility for our own choices,” said Sophia Ferrara, a 12th grader at Timber Creek who needs to use mobile devices during free periods to take online college classes. “But then they are taking away the ability for us to make a choice and to learn responsibility.”
Like many exasperated parents, public schools across the United States are adopting increasingly drastic measures to try to pry young people away from their cellphones. Tougher constraints are needed, lawmakers and district leaders argue, because rampant social media use during school is threatening students’ education, well-being and physical safety.
Ms. Singer discusses some of the benefits of a phone-free environment:
In September, on the first day the ban took effect, Timber Creek administrators confiscated more than 100 phones from students, Mr. Wasko said. After that, the confiscations quickly dropped. Phone-related school incidents, like bullying, have also decreased, he said.
The ban has made the atmosphere at Timber Creek both more pastoral and more carceral.
Mr. Wasko said students now make eye contact and respond when he greets them. Teachers said students seemed more engaged in class.
“Oh, I love it,” said Nikita McCaskill, a government teacher at Timber Creek. “Students are more talkative and more collaborative.”
Some students said the ban had made interacting with their classmates more authentic.
“Now people can’t really be like: ‘Oh, look at me on Instagram. This is who I am,’” said Peyton Stanley, a 12th grader at Timber Creek. “It has helped people be who they are — instead of who they are online — in school.”
The article also addresses some of the downsides of cellphone restrictions:
Other students said school seemed more prisonlike. To call their parents, they noted, students must now go to the front office and ask permission to use the phone.
Surveillance has also intensified. To enforce the ban, Lyle Lake, a Timber Creek security officer, now patrols lunch period on a golf cart, nabbing students violating the ban and driving them to the front office, where they must place their phones in a locked cabinet for the rest of the school day.
“I usually end up with a cart full of students,” Mr. Lake said as he sat behind the wheel of a black Yamaha golf cart during lunch period, “because I pick up more on the way to the office.”
Mr. Lake said he also monitored school security camera feeds for students using cellphones in hallways and other spaces. Students who are caught may be taken out of class. Repeat violators can be suspended.
Whether the potential benefits of banning cellphones outweigh the costs of curbing students’ limited freedom is not yet known. What is clear is that such bans are upending the academic and social norms of a generation reared on cellphones.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Should schools ban cellphones? Would you welcome a ban in your school? Why or why not? Did anything in the article change your thoughts on the growing trend?
How widespread is cellphone use at your school? How much do you use your phone during the school day? Do you think that phones interfere with your, or your peers’, academic learning, quality of social interactions and overall engagement in school?
Nikita McCaskill, a government teacher at Timber Creek High School who loves the new policy, stated, “Students are more talkative and more collaborative.” Which of the benefits of a cellphone ban discussed in the article do you find most appealing?
Many students, however, said the new rules made school more prisonlike. Others argued that the ban was infantilizing. Sophia Ferrara, a 12th grader at Timber Creek, noted: “They expect us to take responsibility for our own choices. But then they are taking away the ability for us to make a choice and to learn responsibility.” Which downsides described in the article concern you most?
What rules, if any, does your school have about cellphone use? How are they enforced? Do you think they are effective? What changes would you recommend to the current policy?
What, if anything, do you think is missing from this conversation? What do you think teachers, educators and parents may not understand about cellphones, especially how young people use them?
