Confiscation. Calls home. Hermetic packages. Why schools are trying to ban cell phones

There is little disagreement about what should be done: California schools should ban or restrict the use of cell phones that interfere with learning.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, provides of every school district in the state develop a plan to ban or restrict cell phones on campus by July 2026. But educators who recently met with Newsom on the issue say their biggest debate is how to put limits on a generation obsessed with their phones.

Newsom, a father of four, including two teenagers, says he knows the allure of phones. He said in an interview that he favors a “ban for the duration” of the entire school day, including lunch, in schools across the state. And he wants the rules to be implemented “much earlier” than the deadline.

More details:“Disabled and saved.” LAUSD reveals details of school cell phone ban that will begin on February 18th

“Obviously, I have my point of view, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to impose it,” Newsome added, saying the decision would be up to local school leaders.

He spoke at the governor’s mansion to a gathering of superintendents, teachers, parents, policy aides and health experts to explain how California students can get rid of their phones.

“There’s a crisis in this country that pre-dates COVID … the issue of social isolation, that kind of withdrawal in society, and people feel more alone than ever, the more connected they are on their devices,” Newsom said. .

Schools are an ideal place to attempt large-scale cultural change, he and others said. And California — with about 1,000 school districts and 5.8 million students — will be the nation’s biggest test case.

Ban phones in the early years

About 95% of teenagers have access to a mobile phone, according to the survey The Pew Research Center released this year. About 6 in 10 respondents said they use TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat, and about 40% said they spend too much time on their phones.

In addition, most teenagers said that phones make it easier to pursue hobbies and be creative; almost half said their phones helped them do better in school.

But experts say the widespread use of cell phones in schools calls for a crackdown as soon as possible.

“High school is probably the breeding ground for that… High school is going to be tough,” said LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin, who sponsored a strict ban by the Los Angeles Unified School District which will take effect in February. Los Angeles schools are now dealing with the rules.

More details:In California, restrictions on cell phones in schools have been lifted. But some students find workarounds

Dr. Sohil Sood, director of the state’s Child and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, described adolescence and young adulthood as “a time of heightened emotional sensitivity and a strong desire for peer validation,” when uniform rules in schools are more likely. successful.

“We are not completely dependent on ‘group think,’ but what the group thinks and does matters a lot,” Sood said. “That’s why rules that restrict phone use in an agreed upon way for everyone in a given environment, such as schools, are likely to be more effective than individual approaches by individual parents or even individual teachers.”

It may also be easier to change the phone culture in middle school, experts say, simply because there tend to be fewer kids at a younger age than in high school.

Since Newsom signed the 2020 law, schools have the ability to limit or prohibit the use of a smartphone some areas are moving forward. They gave advice for the future.

At first they met resistance. But over time it dissipated.

The Bay Area district of San Mateo Foster City enacted a strict cell phone ban in 2021 as students returned to campus after school closures due to the pandemic and were more digitally reliant than ever. Students place their phones in Yondr magnetic pouches when they enter campus. Phones remain in backpacks or trouser pockets. At the end of the school day, students tap their bags on a magnetic base that unlocks when they leave campus. It’s like a cashier at a clothing store tapping on a piece of clothing to remove a magnetic anti-theft device.

The district has 11,000 students in 22 schools, all at the elementary and middle levels, which made it easier to create a phone-free culture as students were just starting to get phones.

At first, dozens either refused or forgot to put their phones in their bags when they got to school. Teachers asked those caught using their phones in class to hand in their devices. Those who refused were sent to the administrator to call their parents and confess to breaking the rule.

“But we never connected it with discipline. No child was suspended or kicked out of the classroom,” said District Superintendent Diego Ochoa.

In a district where all students have Chromebooks and Google-powered email accounts, students found a workaround. “They were using Google Chat and Google Spaces during class,” Ochoa said. The county then disabled those features.

Over time, complaints and violations died down. The district also reported a decrease in overall student suspensions and social media-related conflicts such as bullying.

More details:Will students really give up cell phones? California Phone-Free Schools Law Explained

“We don’t connect everything to cell phones,” said Jean Kim, a member of the San Mateo-Foster County Board. But he said at least some of the improvements come from the phone-free environment.

In January 2023, the Santa Barbara School District implemented a no-call policy. Instead of buying packages for thousands of students, he saved money by using “phone hotels” in classrooms that have assigned rooms where students put their devices. Phone calls are allowed during lunch and between classes.

Officials in Santa Barbara allowed phone use outside of class because they wanted teenagers to learn to “self-regulate” their attitudes toward the devices, Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said.

“Are kids still on their phones? Absolutely. When I walk into the school, I see them texting and looking at their screens at lunch,” Maldonado said. “But they don’t rush out after class to grab phones like candy.”

What about enforcement?

Educators say their most difficult issue is coercion and discipline.

Nothing in state law requires schools to punish students for policy or discipline violations.

School districts have taken different stances on discipline in general, with Los Angeles following a “restorative” model that favors dialogue over punishment, which has so far been limited to confiscating phones.

One of the biggest concerns, educators say, is that teachers don’t want to confiscate phones because they don’t want to be responsible for damaging or losing the phone.

More details:Students mock ban on cell phones at school. Until they really start thinking about it

Teachers don’t want to become “mobile cops,” said Edgar Zazueta, Assn. Executive Director of California School Administrators and former Director of External Affairs for LAUSD.

Maldonado, the Santa Barbara superintendent, said she initially heard similar complaints from teachers. After administrators told teachers they had “removed” financial responsibility for the confiscated devices, it helped alleviate “a lot of anxiety,” she said. However, it is much more common for administrators to call parents than to confiscate their phones.

Discipline issues arose in Los Angeles schools as schools quickly began banning them. County guidelines specify a procedure for multiple warnings for telephone violators, but are vague about confiscation.

In one of the interviews, Melvoin suggested that offenders could be warned before making phone calls to parents. He said further violations could result in one-period forfeitures. More violations will require parents to come pick up the phones. “I hope in the next few weeks the county will be more clear about the implications,” he said.

Melvoin predicts that the compliance rate for students in the district will be 95%, and “5% will be stubborn.”

When Santa Barbara’s ban went into effect in the 12,000-student district last school year, not all students immediately followed it. This year, Maldonado said, teachers, principals, students and parents became more interested as they saw the positives of a phone-free environment.

Maldonado said it’s easier to overcome the hurdles of students not complying with the quick phone ban “if you start with a focus on mental health and well-being instead of enforcement.”

And there will be mistakes. In one case, Maldonado said, a substitute teacher incorrectly assumed a student was hiding his phone instead of putting it in a “phone hotel.” I It turned out that the student does not have a phone.

“Chief Turkey”

While phones and social media are addictive, they’re different from chemical addiction, experts say. One recent study from Durham University, UK found that voluntary social media fasting did not increase or decrease the desire to return to the Internet. Other studies have shown that digital detoxing has led to increased levels of happiness, focus, and mental clarity.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” became a guide to the phone-free schools movement. Haidt does not recommend the use of mobile phones with social networks under the age of 16.

John Piacentini, a UCLA psychology professor who directs UCLA’s Center for Resilience, Education and Child Anxiety Support, agreed that teenagers should put off using smartphones.

Piacentini said bans in schools would work better if teens had role models — older siblings, parents at home, and teachers — who stopped using their phones at the same time.

“Cold turkey is going to be pretty tough for a lot of these kids. But it must be done. “Parents and family really have to work with kids to help them learn to live without their phones for a while,” Piacentini, who was not at the meeting in Sacramento, said. “Parents use phones just like kids and can become addicted from them.”

Subscribe to Essential California to get news, features and recommendations from the LA Times and beyond delivered to your inbox six days a week.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.