Grodence here with my first original post in almost 6 months!

It is no secret that smartphones in the present day are quite remarkable.  Because of the various apps that you can download, you can do a lot of the same functions on your smartphone that you can do on a computer or T.V.  You can email documents and photos, pay bills, perform tasks for work, stream shows and sports, and of course, go on social media.  Since smartphones are everywhere, it is no surprise that kids have access to them and are joining the adults in spending their time staring at a small screen.  There have been plenty of stories about the negative effects of kids using smartphones, and being on social media in general, such as cyberbullying, anxiety about social status because of the online activities of their classmates, and being distracted in class.

Over the past few years however, many school districts in Connecticut have been addressing these issues by limiting or outright banning students’ use of smartphones in school, and these policies have had positive results.  Students are more engaged and focused in class, with test scores improving as a result.  Bullying has decreased, and disciplinary incidents that are unrelated to smartphone use have declined as well.  These restrictions have also contributed to better attendance at school, with rates of chronic absenteeism shrinking in school districts that have implemented these policies.

The benefits of these smartphone restrictions are not limited to improvements in test scores and better behavior.  They’ve encouraged kids to socialize more and be better participants in school activities outside the classroom. At Rippowan Middle School in Stamford last December for example, students were more engaged in the annual Student-Faculty basketball game than in years past. Teachers have noticed that students are conversing more with each other, whether it is in the lunchroom, or on school grounds between classes. Students themselves have remarked that it is easier for them to make friends without phones getting in the way. If you think about it, if you are not looking at your phone, you are forced to communicate face to face with other people. What is very encouraging is that there are signs that even after students graduate, the habit of not looking at their phone sticks with them. The best example of this was in New Canaan, where a teacher meeting with recent high school alumni noticed that none of them took out their phones during their conversation.

Connecticut is not the only state where school systems are curbing smart phone use in schools.  35 states have implemented these limits on some sort of level, either on a statewide basis, or leaving it up to local governments to decide how to implement these policies.  Since it has only been a few years since school districts have started to enforce widespread restrictions on smartphone use, it’s too soon to tell whether we have found a durable solution for ungluing smartphones from students. But with numerous reports of declining civic engagement, and me personally seeing people everywhere look at their smartphone devices¹, this is something positive that is happening indeed.

1. Of course, I am just as bad as everyone else in looking at my smartphone. ↩︎