Since cell phones were banned in the classroom at Concord High School at the beginning of the year, 11th-grader Skyler Hubbard says she’s been able to focus better.
After a grueling journey of distance learning where students could easily escape the gaze of their teachers or simply turn off the Zoom camera and have unrestricted access to their phones, it was an adjustment to be back in person.
Hubbard said the simple act of moving her phone from its seductive spot on the desk to the backpack where it’s out of sight has made a world of difference.
“I feel like I’m paying more attention to what my teachers are saying and stuff, rather than just playing games on my phone,” Hubbard said.
Concord High School started the school year with a strong rule: At the beginning of classes, all cell phones must be turned off and stored out of sight in backpacks. Students are allowed to use their phones when they are not in class – during free time, lunch or study rooms – but when they are in class, they should have no distractions. It’s not a new policy, but Reardon said they’re doing everything they can to make sure the policy is enforced equally in every classroom.
Concord isn’t alone in trying to get a handle on teen phone use. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 35% of teens say they use social media “almost constantly” on their phones, be it TikTok, Youtube, Instagram or Snapchat.
Teens are aware of their cell phone use. About a third (36%) say they spend too much time on social media, and more than half (54%) of teens say it would be at least a little hard to give up, according to the Pew- study.
For this year, Reardon said, teachers enforced the policy to varying degrees. If some teachers were lax about phone use, it made it harder for other teachers to enforce it if they wanted to. The end result was that cell phone use created a “roadblock” for students staying on the job.
“You get into the ‘why can I do it there but not here?’ sort of a deal,” Reardon said. “If everyone does it now, and it’s embedded in the culture of the school, it becomes a non-issue.”
Reardon said he talks to students about the importance of school by explaining how much money it costs to run the district, and that their parents contribute tax dollars to their educational experience.
“School is serious business,” Reardon said. “When you’re in class, you have to do your work, which means you can’t sit on your phone.”
Eleventh grader Keyana Jensen wished policies were a little more relaxed and that phones were allowed during independent work hours, or at the end of class when students finish work early. Jensen says listening to music with headphones really helps her focus while working, especially if the room is noisy.
“If someone is noisy in class, I don’t like shutting them out and listening to music,” Jensen said.
Student Lazzar Magar felt the same way, saying she doesn’t feel distracted by her phone in class and wishes she could use it during free times.
“I get it, it’s so we can focus. But some people can concentrate,” Magar said. “Some people play on their phones all the time, but I’m not that kind of person.”
Among schools in the metropolitan region, cell phone policies vary in strictness, depending on age.
Most high schools, including Bow Memorial, Hopkinton Middle, and Franklin Middle, do not allow the use of cell phones at any time during the school day. textbooks for students. Some high schools, such as Weare Middle, even prefer students not to bring personal cell phones to school at all, although most schools allow this for security reasons. Most high schools encourage students to use a landline phone at headquarters if they need to contact a parent or guardian during the day.
High school students typically get more freedom when it comes to phone use. Most local high schools, including Hopkinton High and John Stark Regional, allow high school students to use their phones at school when not in class, such as during lunch or breaks, although they must put them away in class, according to their student handbooks. .
In Merrimack Valley, the Student Advisory Council is working with the board this semester to develop clear expectations about cell phone use on campus. In a letter to parents on Sept. 23, Principal David Miller said the school has had problems with phones jamming and students recording others without permission. He sent out a survey for the elderly to gather input on responsible and appropriate use of mobile phones at school.
“While the school opening has been extremely positive, MVHS continues to see a growing number of concerns regarding the inappropriate use of cell phones on school grounds,” Miller wrote. “In many cases, using these individual devices is disruptive to the learning environment.”
Franklin High School is going through the same process as Concord to put new emphasis on a pre-existing policy to make sure it’s enforced the same throughout the school.
“It wasn’t as prescribed, in the sense that there were a lot of different expectations in the classroom,” said David Levesque, principal of Franklin High School. “We as faculty and staff want to make sure that we all do the same thing, certain rules we want to make sure everyone adheres to.”
The Franklin High rule is that students are not allowed to use cell phones or headphones in academic spaces, such as classrooms and the library. They are allowed to use their telephones between classes, in the cafeteria during lunch and in the study room.
“This is also a life skill. When we’re at work, we can’t sit on our phones. And they understand that,” Levesque said.
Teachers deal with it in different ways in the classroom. Most teachers simply ask that phones be stored in backpacks. Some have a bag or basket to keep students’ phones until the end of class. A teacher in Franklin has placed charging stations throughout the classroom.
There is also flexibility within the policy, Levesque said. If a class finishes work a few minutes early, a teacher can allow students to pick up their phones and teachers can include phone use in their lessons for educational purposes.
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when learning for the majority of students, such as Hubbard, moved online, and using technology throughout the day became an everyday part of everyday life.
“I think the COVID years have strengthened cell phone use because of the communication piece,” Levesque said. “If you’re home alone during COVID and can’t communicate, you need to use a cell phone to connect with people. We really focus on our social and emotional learning to build that connection, one-on-one or in groups, so they can have those soft skills and be able to interact with an adult or peer in person.”
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