This school year, my site has taken a bold stance on cell phones. To limit the cyberbullying and increase student face-to-face interaction, our school has a no cell phone usage during the hours of 8am to 3pm. Cell phones are to be off and carried in the student’s backpacks at all times. Surprisingly, this policy has been working well as the incoming junior high students have obeyed it and the current junior high students have accepted it. I personally think that its success has attributed to the teacher’s individual cell phone policy as many enforce the school policy outside of the classroom. Students value their connection to social media and their friends that to lose that privilege, even for a day, would cause stress and anxiety.
I remember the beginnings of social media through the channels of myspace and AIM messenger. I recall setting up my profile, visiting various online sites, communicating to friends (or strangers), and connecting through shared interests. Online blogs were starting to become widespread and online self-expression was becoming increasingly popular. Once Facebook opened on our college campus, almost all collage students could now interact with their peers and classmates in a completely different setting. Facebook, at the time, was a place to check out and see who was in a relationship, read their interests, check their friend’s college courses, and measure their friend’s experiences by skimming through their photos. An online community was established to gripe about professors and projects and share meaningful life events. Once Facebook was open to all age groups, suddenly the posts changed and turned into news articles and commercial shopping.
With that said, I can remember a time in which I personally was drawn to social media and the device that supported its application; yet, I do not recall being so consumed that I felt panic if I didn’t check my messages, post a picture/comment, or get enough feedback from my online updates. This generation of students are interlocked with their social media/cell phones that it has become unhealthy.
Every Friday, my students watch a short three-minute video from the producers of Flocabulary. This educational website takes a the headlights of the news week and puts them into a rap. The current event segment for this week featured the discussion of Yondr. Yondr is a lockable phone case that prevents people from using their cell phones at concerts or other private performances. People put their phones in this case and they are not able to access it until the phone case has been unlocked. Upon hearing this, all of my students gasped and protested; especially after reading that Yondr has been implemented into 57 venues and 300 schools.
I asked my students why they were so upset at this idea and every class, as if it was well rehearsed, exclaimed that they needed their phones in case of an “emergency.” Students asked, “what if someone is calling with bad news and you need to know of it immediately” or “what if someone was hurt/dying and you need to call for help.” Or my absolute favorite, “what if your friends do not believe that you were at the concert?” As much as I countered their arguments with alternative viewpoints (such as emergencies from parents and friends can wait for at least another hour, performances do not take all day, concerts are filled with first respondents and have protocols for the worst, and you have terrible friends if they need proof of your presence), the students could not imagine having their phone inaccessible. Even though we have a “no phone” policy at school, students still keep their phones “off” in their backpacks as a security to “emergency” calls.
What I can gather is this…if I was their age, I would feel the same way because my phone is my only source of freedom and independence. As a junior high student, I do not have a source of income, a drivers license, or my secluded living arrangement. As an adult, I enjoy the peace and quiet as I relish the fact that I can walk away from emails, social media, and texting for the time allotted to me. As adults, I think we envy how simple life can be and want to return to the days where emails and messages do not need to be answered immediately or sent out. With that said, although I push for my students to be technology free, I understand their stance. My only hope is that they will one day see that life is so much more than worrying about what is said online or watching videos on social media, but to rather enjoy the moments that they experience and cherish the face-to-face interactions with people they enjoy.
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