Seasons of Teaching: Students and Their Phones

My parents were one of the last of their friends to invest in a phone. I still recall a family friend coming over to tell us some news and complaining that if we had a phone, he wouldn't have had to drive around. Mum's response was she preferred people to drop in. When we finally got a phone, if you missed a call, you missed it and had no way of knowing who had tried calling you. If you were in the bathroom, or if you went out, you didn't answer the phone and there was no message bank.

As a teenager, I would hideaway in my parents' bedroom to make phone calls to boyfriends and school friends and hoped that that no one would notice. When we got a 2nd telephone, it was not uncommon for my siblings to listen in or for mum to pick up the phone and tell me to get off the phone as I'd already seen them at school, so what more did I need to say?

Fast forward 20 years or so and every person has a mobile phone or 2 handy, even children younger than 10 years old. As an adult, when I upgraded my mobile phone, my son would get my 'old' phone. Being more techno savvy than his mum, he played that to his advantage. One time I upgraded my phone when he suggested it was time. After the deal was done, the salesperson asked why I had upgraded when the older phone was better. My son just grinned.

On my first mobile phone, I loved the 'snake' game and enjoyed being able to send messages. Mobile phones back then were simply to make and receive calls and send messages. Obviously phones these days far outshine the first phones. These days phones have:

better memory space
calculator
cameras
Google
dictionaries
apps for health
access to face time
etc etc

I remember when my parents saved up to buy an encyclopaedia each week until they had received the whole set. We would pore over those books, using them to find information to our projects and trace over the pictures to copy on to posters. Nowadays, we keep phones handy so that if we have a query about anything, we can check on our phones. We can use it to see where our child is going, what our friends are eating, and look at photos that are shared over social media. We can read the news and listen to politicians and others spouting off their ideas.

A few years ago I was in a school that went into lock down as an alleged criminal was on the run about 5kms away, supposedly headed in our direction. Within moments of the lock-down, parents were calling the office wanting to know what was going on because they'd read it on Facebook. It was handy to have my mobile phone so that I could communicate with other staff about what was going on and reassure the students I had with me, that it was all good.

Students and their phones - to be or not to be, at school. If you make a list of pros and cons, I'd venture to guess each would be about the same length, however, if you weigh each pro and con against its value, there is evidence to prove students should not have mobile phones at school. Cyber bullying, cheating on tests, addiction, lack of social skills outweigh the positives and surely students should be able to have a phone-free zone?

Research has been conducted in Australian schools (and internationally) that confirm the banning of mobile phones has a positive impact on students and their academic performance. Students achieve higher results, there is decreased bullying in schools and students are more focused on completing their work without the distraction of mobile phones.

Interestingly enough, when news readers speak of this, their questions go along the line of, "This is great for schools, but how do they do it and how do I get my teenager to put down their phone?"

When it was time to take my Year 5/6 class on a camp, I debated whether or not to let them bring devices &/or mobile phones. It was going to be a long train trip. It would be nice for parents to talk with their children while on camp but on the other hand, what would happen if a child lost their phone/device? How much time would they get to use their device with all the other things we had planned and how could we monitor it after 'lights out' to ensure they were getting enough sleep? My concession was that while devices and mobile phones were permitted, I'd prefer students didn't bring them. I also said that they were the sole responsibility of the student and we (staff) would not be looking after them.

Students and their phones will always be a part of our lives. So, as one article I read said, "These findings do not discount the possibility mobile phones and other technology could be a useful structured teaching tool. However, ignoring or misunderstanding the evidence could be harmful to students and lead to long term negative social consequences." (1.)

Make it a conversation you have regularly with your colleagues and your students. Evaluate how it's going, with or without the ban and check in with your students with regards to their use of phones and their social emotional wellbeing. It's also a great topic for a 'persuasive' essay.