Notes from My Knapsack 12-7-23

Notes from My Knapsack 12-7-23
Jeff Gill

Connections that short circuit communication, let alone learning
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Should school age students have access to their phones during school hours?

There's a familiar fatalism to the discussions I've been hearing the last year. It's akin to the "vast wasteland" worries Newton Minow first voiced sixty some years ago about television. But kicked up a notch, both in the level of concern and the basis for it, and as to the presumed inability of anyone to do anything about it.

Jonathan Haidt, a highly respected non-partisan scholar at NYU, has put forward some unambiguous data showing the link between common smart phone use and juvenile mental health. I won't walk you through too much of it, and it's easily findable online (yes, irony, hold that thought), but his point is something has happened, and it tracks closely with the spread of hyper-connectedness by juveniles mostly through their phones.

Correlation is not causation, true (I heard you say that!), and good people are working on that; you can look at Jean Twenge's work for first steps to nail down those links and triggers. What has my attention is the near unanimous opinion among educational professionals, teachers and administrators alike (and they do not always agree on everything, but they do here) that everyone would be better off, emotionally, psychologically, and academically, if personal phones were treated, and I'm quoting what a number have said to me all not knowing others said it the same way, "like we would a weapon on campus." In other words, no phones. None.

That's what they'd like. They also all quickly admit they know it's not going to happen. Wait, if they all feel that way, from the office secretary to the substitute teachers, plus the principals and assistant superintendents, why can't that become a policy, at least in some districts as a test?

The answer is parents. Even attempts to limit and manage student phone access during the day, such as a disciplinary action on a student who has admittedly broken school rules and been on their phone repeatedly without permission during class, in restrooms, etc.: the parents are all over administrators and the district office. In general, I'm told, school staff don't believe school boards would support it.

There's a complicator here: the school shooting issue of the last decade or two has parents wanting to be able to contact or be contacted by their child if something happens at the school. It's a mix of pragmatism and sentiment stirred up by strong parental emotions. My child needs to be able to call me at any time.

Those of us who readily recall one phone, in the office, used only with great necessity by a student and not always then, will sigh. That train has left the station. We are all used to constant contact and "find my phone" tracking and the like.

Meanwhile, good people with close attention to the issue have real concerns about the impact of smartphones on learning and emotional health at school. What can we do? I'll try to suggest some ideas in my next column.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's not promising to solve the whole question, but he's been thinking about some solutions. Tell him your ideas at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads.