No phones at School…& kids are thriving

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room if you live in Alabama. No phones in school this year. Wait. What? I know. I know. As we all collectively clutched our pearls and thought for sure our children would never be ok without them…they in fact…are. Word on the street is they are thriving.

We are a week into the school year here.  I have been chatting with students and teachers as well as just keeping my finger on the pulse of what “folks are saying”.  Largely through FB community groups.  (Have y’all ever been on one of those things?  Whew.  Tread carefully.  Things are WILD in there.). But I digress.  When it was first announced that phones would not be allowed in schools, there was concern.  From students?   One would think they would have the biggest issue with their constant communication device taken away for ….holds breath…at least 6 hours a day.  That has not been the case.  Here are a few responses I have gotten when chatting with students “I am SO happy we can not have them!”  “I feel better now that everyone is not on them.” “I hope it stays this way.” “It has been AMAZING!”  And one student just proclaimed “Thank GOD!” when I loosely mentioned the new law.  What are educators saying?  They are ecstatic!  General consensus is that students are talking again.  Laughing.  Connecting.  Less drama.  They are actually…wait for it…doing work in class and turning it in on time.  I know after 12 years of working closely with schools that educators have been begging for something like this.  Without a law to provide the proverbial back up they need in schools, it is hard to implement a no phone policy as parents would send them anyway.  So back to my earlier question….who was the most concerned about this new law?  Parents.

Ok…before we put me out to pasture….hear me out for a second.  I get the concern.  As parents we have become accustomed to having constant contact with our kids.  It gives us a sense of security.  It is also incredibly helpful when our kids have after school activities that need managing or we have a child that medically needs their device. The biggest concern is what if there is a school shooter? How will I find my child? How will I know they are ok?  This is a valid, real, deeply feeling concern.  It is terrifying to think of our child being in that situation.  But I ask you to pause here for a minute.  If this does happen, we have been told by responders that the last thing they want is for a student to be on a device.  Their eyes and ears need to be on the teachers and responders so they may guide them to safety.  They do not need students to be distracted in that moment.  Allow me to pose an even harder question here…what can we do via phone that will protect them?  Nothing.  Yes, every minute that we are waiting feels agonizing.  But we must trust the people that have been trained to protect our children.  Calling or texting can actually put your child in danger by alerting where they are.

This change feels hard.  It feels like the invisible string we have had grown accustomed to is being cut.  But I think it is important that we listen to our youth.  That we listen to the students and educators who are the ones who are living the experience of not having a device in school every day.  Those of us that are not there…if I am being honest…we do not know.  If students  are feeling better, less anxious, more connected…then this feels like a really good thing.

Which begs the question…has it always been this easy?  Students have been showing signs of anxiety and disconnect for years.  Social media related behaviors at school has risen year over year.  Teachers have been begging for the devices to be removed so they can simply…teach.  So they are not trying to navigate students that are distracted and disinterested in what is being taught because they are more interested in their phones.  Could it have been this easy 15 years ago?  Yes. The answer is yes.  It actually would have been easier.  We would not have formed such deep emotional attachment to a device.  It took several years for us to get to where we are today.  Where we stopped allowing our kids to be kids and experience friends, classmates and classes the way they should.  Face to face. In person. Without distractions.  Where all good, strong meaningful connections are made.  Once we stepped off the cliff we just kept falling.  I love that we are now taking a step back.   That we are finally headed in the right direction when it comes to protecting our kids.  If it means keeping them off a device for 30 minutes, 3 hours or a whole day at school….I am going to vote yes.  Every. Time