Out of hand, still in mind

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next: Dropping the call.

In just three years, cell-phone restrictions in schools have spread from Florida to more than 60% of the states. Parents and teachers overwhelmingly approve.

NICK EICHER, HOST: But new research suggests taking away phone privileges may not improve grades, behavior, or attention—at least by itself.

WORLD’s Lauren Smyth reports now on why students’ phone habits outside school may matter just as much.

LAUREN SMYTH: Mark SooHoo’s son asked for a cell phone in second grade—long before his parents thought necessary.

MARK SOOHOO: We've been very consistent—we've been very straightforward with our kids—that they won't be getting a smartphone until high school.

But even at that age, his son faced peer pressure. Other kids were getting phones as a safety device or to arrange after-school pickup. And it rarely stopped there, as kids also downloaded social media apps. 

Those who didn’t, felt left out.

SOOHOO: And our response to that is simple: We do want them to be left out. We want them to be left out of the negativity and the depression and the addiction that smartphones and social media cause for kids whose brains are still developing before high school.

A study in the journal Pediatrics found kids who had a smartphone by age 12 were more likely to show signs of depression, to be overweight, and to come up short on sleep. And the younger they got the phone, the higher the risk.

CRISTINA EYRE: Kids today have shorter attention spans to begin with …

Cristina Eyre is superintendent of Michigan’s Litchfield public schools. She says since kids started getting smartphones, she’s seen major problems with bullying, engagement with teachers, and attention span.

EYRE: Because of the exposure to—honestly, video games first, but then the accessibility of cell phones and everything being at our fingertips.

One study found that simply owning a smartphone correlated with lower test performance, regardless of whether the kids bring the device to school.

EYRE: Taking phones out of the classrooms is the first step, or one step, but the other part is when students are at home and they are working on schoolwork—it’s the same thing. That phone should not be in the same room with them because a notification goes off, it’s gonna distract them even if they don’t respond.

So far, 36 states have restricted cell phones in the classroom. A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when schools locked up phones, things actually got worse before they got better. Suspensions rose, students felt worse off, and it took a year to turn around.

But test scores, attendance, focus, and bullying barely moved ... even three years in. That could be because students are still on their phones outside school hours, or because they’ve found ways around the ban.

Even so, Eyre says she’s noticed a difference since her school started confiscating phones at the classroom door.

EYRE: Kids are more likely to be engaged in what's happening in the classroom. I'm not saying it's perfect. The cell phones aren't the only issue. I think attention spans have become an issue, but we can't address that factor until we remove the one that's impacting it at face value.

Meanwhile, students have mixed opinions. Liam Stanski is a student at Barrington High School in Illinois. He’s skeptical.

LIAM STANSKI: I feel like it hasn’t changed what I would have been doing anyway.

Barrington’s policy allows phones only during lunch. But Stanski says many students ignore the rule during class too. 

STANSKI: People can still pull up their iPad and put their phone behind their tablet, and they can still use it anyway. So even though it is technically banned, there's not many consequences if they catch you on it. At worst, they'll take it away...it's just super easy to get away with it.

Stanski says he gets anxious and distracted at the prospect of missing messages from his parents while he’s in class. On top of that, notifications pile up.

STANSKI: Having it banned in school kind of makes you want to use it more outside of school.

Only about 40% of students support cell phone bans. Eyre says those students usually welcome the escape from online bullying and constant distraction.

EYRE: There are students that want to be in school. There are students that want to learn. There are students that want to have drama-free lives.

Some students are ready to make that decision themselves. Others need parental guidance.

When Mark SooHoo’s seven-year-old asked him for a phone, he turned to some peer support of his own—a group of other parents who collectively agreed not to give their kids phones. That removed the pressure on the kids of peers using tech they weren’t allowed to have.

Eventually, these parents joined a nationwide movement, Wait Until 8th, promising not to give their kids smartphones at all until high school.

SOOHOO: Here in our local community, a parent had given their child a smartphone early on and took it away. And the quote was, “I, you know, I had a changed kid when I took it away.” They noticed that their child was more engaged, more alert, happier.

More than 70% of parents nationwide approve of classroom phone bans. But at least some of the new research indicates simply banning phones at school may not be enough, and that rules at home matter too.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Smyth in Litchfield, Michigan.

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