It has been four years since my team and I launched The Away For The Day (AFTD) campaign to help people get sound cell phone policies into schools. The research remains clear that when phone use is limited at schools, students do better socially, academically, and emotionally. Given the enormous increases in screen time and social isolation over the past two years, as well as the jump in mental health problems, ensuring healthy phone policies is more important than ever. Today, I share some wonderful examples of how the AFTD Campaign has led to real changes in schools across the country.
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The science is clear: Having phones used less during the school day increases connections and decreases distractions. Students do better socially and emotionally, as shown by research. Now more than ever, it’s time to look at our Away For The Day Campaign, which is full of tools to help bring change to your elementary, middle, or high school.
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We are making changes on Away For The Day. We are now advocating an away-for-the-day cellphone policy not just for middle schools but for high schools and, of course, elementary schools, too. Today we share experiences from trailblazers and resources for anyone to get the policy changed at their school.
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I am excited to give some really important updates on how the Away For The Day movement is going and to offer new free resources.
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Policies, laws, rules—who makes them? Who follows them? Who agrees or disagrees with them? And, how can each of us get involved in making them? These are critically essential questions to bring up with youth. And watch my 1-minute video of France’s new cellphone ban in schools.
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Parents are saying that their child’s elementary school has no cell phone policy because they assume that most kids do not have phones yet. But, we have found that is just not accurate.
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Schools experience pressure to have tech on their campuses from tech companies, administration, and others. Schools want to do well by their students and tech has been sold as a quick fix.
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I am a big believer in working hard to teach my daughter and son, and myself, to continually be better planners. The less we rely on the phone as the escape route for changing plans, the more we work together to get our plans organized outside of school time. So I have really started to “HOLD THAT TEXT.”
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Changemakers are working to create learning environments free from cell phone distractions. Read more about the momentum.
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As this school year winds down, we are hearing from teachers, parents and principals from all over the country about how many have already or are in the process of changing their school’s cell phone policies.
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Are you a Parent Activist? Do you want to be? Read more about how to get involved with the "Away For The Day" movement.
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Today, the Screenagers’ team and I are officially launching a website-based initiative to promote middle schools to adopt policies where phones are put away for the day in places like lockers.
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The main finding is alarming: The majority of middle schools (55%) allow students to carry a cell phone on them all day. Only 45% of middle schools require students put their phones away for the day. Yet, our survey found parents want something different.
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In the past couple of months, I visited schools where the teachers talked to me about concerns over kids and cell phones during field trips.
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My daughter is in 9th grade in a junior high, and my son in the high school, and it seems every year they, and I, are not entirely clear on the rules at school around cellphones. Tessa tells me that one teacher has a zero tolerance policy. On the first day he told them that if he catches them with a phone, he will put it on his desk—In this first week, he has not confiscated one during her class. Another “more chill” (in Tessa’s words) teacher says if you finish your work you can be on your phone. He added that there are “appropriate times to be on your phone and non-appropriate times.” I’m eager to have a Tech Talk Tuesday tonight with my kids about how this is all working...the different rules, their desire to check their phones versus their need to pay attention, etc.
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