This school year, districts across the country are hammering down on student phone use. Some schools require their students to place their phones in pouches at the start of each class, and others require phones to stay secured in backpacks until the end of the period. To the naked eye, the reasons behind this decision make sense for many schools-–administrators claim limiting phone use helps improve student focus and could possibly improve district test scores. To teachers, administrators, and parents, it may seem like they’re solving a huge problem, but in reality, schools around the country already struggle with much bigger challenges than cell phone usage: underfunded programs, teacher wages, and the lack of student mental health services. Focusing so severely on phone use when districts have much bigger problems feels less like a problem solver and more like a scapegoat. The real issue isn’t phone usage, but instead the lack of guidance on how to use it properly.
A study from the University of Birmingham (TheGuardian) researched that banning smartphones does not improve student grades or test scores. Instead, psychologists Annette Campbell-Anderson and Emily Boddy via EducationWeek inform people that direct bans on smart phones avoid confronting the bigger problem: not just in our schools but in society as well. The digital crisis remains as the addictive nature of cellphones and the need to teach digital wellness.
Furthermore, journal entries from professor Christopher Ferguson (MyJournalCourier) illustrates an instance in which after a strict phone ban in Orange County Florida, schools didn’t see an increase in grades or academics among students. Instead, they saw an increase in other problems around the school. Ferguson argues that the evidence doesn’t support phone bans in schools.
It’s also safe to point out that schools have much bigger problems than students being on their phones. Schools across the country—even in our own district—suffer from problems like overcrowded classrooms, underfunded programs, problems with teacher shortages and wages, and increasing mental-health problems among young teens.
To conclude, smartphone bans might appear like a great idea, however they are often used as a scapegoat for the real, more necessary problems schools need to figure out. Phones aren’t the main issue, a lack of priorities are.