The age of social centrality
As even a casual glance in the homeroom of every high school or college lecture hall will confirm, phone use is high in teenagers and young adults. But Dr. Ruston and Ms. Tabb decided to focus on middle schools.
“That’s the age where we know schools are facing the most challenges,” Dr. Ruston said. “This is also the age when social centrality becomes a major focus for youth. Thus, the pull to be on social media games, where their peers are, is incredibly enticing.”
A recent study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found that middle schoolers who compulsively check social networks on their phones appear to have changes in areas of the brain linked to reward and punishment.
It was in middle schools, she concluded, “where effective policies on cellphones are most needed.”
As part of their research into the issue, she and ms. Tabb did a survey using email contacts collected by Dr. Ruston’s company, MyDoc Productions, during the making of the film, along with subscribers to her blog. In all, 1,200 parents – each of whom had at least one child in middle school at the time – were surveyed. The researchers found an interesting disconnect: Eighty-two percent of the parents surveyed did not want their children using phones in school. Yet 55% of middle schools allowed students to carry phones during the school day.
That survey was done in 2017. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of cellphones by children, both in school and at home, has risen dramatically. A literature review of 46 studies, published in JAMA Pediatrics in November, found that average screen time among children and adolescents has increased by 52% – or 84 minutes a day – during the pandemic.
That trend has given many schools, including Pennsville, the drive to adopt an Away for the Day–type policy. As part of the program, Dr. Ruston’s website provides ammunition against the kinds of pushback they might expect to get. One of the most common is the idea that banning cellphone use among middle school children is a misguided, antitechnology measure.
“We’re not at all antitech,” Dr. Ruston asserts. Away for the Day, she explains, advocates the use of learning technologies in school that are monitored and supervised by teachers.
“The majority of students have access to learning devices in the school,” she said. “These have different kinds of blockers, making it harder for their kid to respond to their friend on TikTok when they’re supposed to be using technology for learning.”
Dr. Ruston estimates that about 10,000 middle schools are now using various pieces of the Away for the Day campaign, which includes videos, posters, fact sheets, and other materials. Other schools have adopted similar measures in the same spirit.
Predictable and calm? Not so much
When Katherine Holden was named principal of Oregon’s Talent Middle School in 2022, one of the first things she wanted to do was create some structure for the routines of students (and parents) who were frazzled after 2 years of remote learning, staggered schedules, and mask mandates.
“Predictable and calm,” she said, with a laugh. “I use those words every day.”
Achieving both is hard enough in a middle school without a pandemic – not to mention an epidemic of cellphone use. (Talent also endured a massive fire in 2020 that left many families homeless.)
For this school year, Ms. Holden is using a new and clearly articulated policy: “Devices are put away from the first bell to the last bell,” she said. “We want them to have a focus on other things. We want them to be socializing, interacting with their peers face to face, thinking about getting to class. We want them making eye contact, asking questions. Learning how to make a friend face to face. Those are important developmental social skills they should be practicing.”
Instead of scrolling through photos on Instagram, watching trending videos on TikTok, or texting their friends.
Like Dr. Slusher, she announced the new cellphone policy last summer, in a letter sent home to parents along with the list of school supplies their children would need.
“Students are welcome to use their cell phones and personal devices before entering the building prior to 8:30 a.m. and after exiting the school building at 3:10 p.m.,” she wrote. “However, during the school day students’ cellphones and personal devices need to be off and out of sight.
“I think parents generally understand the need for this,” Ms. Holden said. “They’ve watched their children getting distracted at home by these devices, so they have a sense of how a cellphone adds a layer of challenge to learning. And parents are aware of the unkind behavior that often happens online.”
As for the kids themselves? Safe to say the excitement that Dr. Slusher’s email got from Pennsville faculty, staff, and parents didn’t extend to students.
“They don’t like it all, to be honest,” he said. “But they understand it’s for their benefit. When we sold it to them at our beginning-of-the-year meeting, we presented our rationale. From the kids I speak to, I think the majority understand why we’re doing it.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.