Today, I’m sharing an excerpt from the podcast we released yesterday because it really captures all the points I want to make in this blog — and hopefully will inspire you to listen to the full episode which is perfect for a short walk or car drive at 19-minutes.

(Please note there are a couple of minor edits from the original transcript to make it easy to follow as a blog.)

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“Some of you know about Away for the Day. Back in 2017, my ScreenAgers film and movement partner, Lisa Tabb, and I, with the help of others on our team, started the campaign Away for the Day to have schools be phone-free, and now that includes smartwatches as well. 

Away for the Day is centered on the website AwayForTheDay.org, which is chock full of helpful things like best practices, toolkits, testimonials, and data on why these policies help students emotionally, academically, and socially. 

We're thrilled that we have heard from many, many parents, counselors, teachers, principals, and superintendents on how our campaign and all these resources have helped to create change in their schools over the past seven-plus years, and the movement is growing big time. Already 14 states have either passed legislation in support of a way for the day or are in the midst of passing legislation. 

Unfortunately, though, is that many of these bills are directed specifically at academic time only and don't address breaks and lunch. Another issue is that schools may say they have a policy that phones are kept away during class time, but students often still have access to their phones. They may be supposed to keep them in their lockers or their backpacks, but then they keep them on themselves, or in some instances, they're just allowed to keep them wherever they want to.

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This is a problem because the temptation to look at their devices is just seriously still maintained. I mean, it's not easy for students to resist the pull. It's not easy for any of us. Wouldn't it be better if devices were locked up safely for the full day? 

Each of the four Screenagers films addresses the issue of phones in schools, and in the recently released Screenagers Elementary School Age Edition, the idea of specific lockers for cell phones is even brought up. 

I'm jazzed to have spoken with a high school principal who helped to change her school to away-for-the-day just this January 2025. We're talking mid-school year. They did not go to phones locked away for the entire day, but they are doing the next best thing: Phones are locked away all day except for lunchtime. 

Why make the change? Well, prior to January, teachers were asked to collect phones and put them into baskets in the front of the classroom for the class period, and then students got their phones back at the end of the period. Each teacher was to do this, but not all the teachers did. And this is a common problem.

A lot of high schools, for example, have used these plastic hanging shoe holders for phones, but then some of the teachers don't do it. This makes it that much harder for the teachers who are trying to enforce the rule. So today we're going to learn about this high school that just recently made a big change....

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Listen to the podcast at these links or wherever you get your podcasts:

Apple Podcasts // Spotify // Castbox // YouTube // Website

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Questions to get the conversation started with your group or family:

1. What are the pros and cons of doing this first and fifth-period personal device lock-up?
2. What would be the pros about having phones and watches locked away for all of the day in high school (visit the research page on Away For the Day to bring some data into it)
3. When I was in high school, Berkeley High School, there was an open campus. Some kids went off campus for lunch. For example, there was a big park across the street from the school, and some kids liked to sit together on the grass. You see, many schools have done this for a long time without phones. Can you see the case for having phones locked fully away for the day?

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This week on YouTube

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:

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