Ericka Henriquez

As public school students return to school in New Haven, they will be met with some new rules around their cell phone use. 

On Aug. 21, the Connecticut State Board of Education approved a new recommendation for Connecticut public schools: cell phones should not be used at all during the school day of elementary and middle school students, while cell phone use in high schools should be limited.

However, as students begin to get used to the new normal in schools, the opinions of students, educators, parents and medical professionals highlight just how complex reactions are to the cell phone ban. 

“I think to me as a parent and an educator, the recommendation sounds like it is aligned developmentally and it encourages social interaction, while also giving some flexibility at older ages,” Mira Debs GRD ’16, lecturer in the sociology department and director of undergraduate studies of the Education Studies Program, said. “However, I can’t speak for all parents or students, for there are various experiences that provide a different perspective to this recommendation.”

The scientific basis for the cellphone ban recommendation 

According to Xi Chen, professor of health policy at the School of Public Health, cell phones have led to reduced cognitive capacity, as students are now more likely to just use a readily available information source without relying on their cognitive abilities. Cell phones have also led to sleep deprivation as blue light from phones disrupts the normal circadian cycle, and social media has its litany of mental health consequences, from intense feelings of isolation and stress to self-harm.

However, when it comes to students, the dangers of cell phones listed above are only exacerbated and can impair the learning experience in the classroom. And even if they are not actively using it but can see their phone, they can still get distracted, according to Ada Fenick, professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine. 

“So if you’re feeling like you’re constantly having to look at your phone, your attention span for your schoolwork is definitely lowered because you’re constantly going back to check,” Fenick told the News.

Cell phones have also been shown to increase cyberbullying in school, which is associated with feelings of depression and self-harm, according to Fenick. This is especially true when cyberbullying can now be done at a distance by anyone and posts on social media can be permanent. 

Additionally, outside the classroom, cell phones have been shown to reduce the social-emotional skills of students. According to Chen, students are more likely to develop social isolation as they spend more time on the screen and do not learn how to talk to their peers, which has a variety of negative effects.

“We know that face-to-face communication between children is best because human society is built on face-to-face interaction,” Chen said. “But cell phones and online communication crowd out their valuable time to engage with their peer students. There’s even some evidence that brain development can be affected as the important skills of communication and creativity aren’t engaged.”

According to Debs, the COVID-19 pandemic provided the opportunity for students to have unlimited access to their cell phones because they were home all the time. Coming back to school made the issues of cell phones in the classroom that much clearer to educators. 

Bullying, lack of communication skills and reduced attention span are not anything new in schools, but cell phones exacerbate these issues. According to some teachers, the lack of cell phones has created great changes in the classroom.

“The reports that have come out from schools that have implemented a ban is that it makes teachers’ work so much easier. They feel like they have more positive interactions with students, creating a very positive impact on the school climate overall,” Debs told the News.

Community reactions for and against phone restrictions

Some New Haven students, however, are skeptical about how cell phone restrictions would be effectively implemented and wonder how restrictions could still prioritize students’ rights.

Jonaily Colón, a junior at New Haven’s High School in the Community, or HSC, serves as a student representative on the New Haven Board of Education. She says she is comfortable with cell phones being restricted, agreeing they can stifle engagement in the classroom, but feels students should be able to access them when they need to, especially to communicate with family or manage emergency situations. 

“In case of a Code Red or anything like that, say we have our phone in a Yondr pouch, you can’t text anyone,” she said.

In August, the New Haven Independent reported that Barnard Environmental Magnet School and Troup School are spearheading the use of Yondr pouches, magnetic lockboxes that prevent cell phone usage inside a designated “phone-free space.”

Colón hasn’t yet witnessed any effort to restrict cell phone use in HSC, but her peers have heard about the Yondr pouches from students at other schools. Colón understands that a teacher’s reprimand is often not enough to discourage students from using phones, but her peers have objections to forcible restriction. She imagines that an enforced cell phone regulation would provoke major complaints about students’ right to their own property.

“A lot of people are like, ‘They’re not taking my phone away from me,’” Colón recalled. “‘I bought it and I’m going to use it.’”

According to Seth Zimmerman, a member of the Connecticut Board of Education and professor at the School of Management, the issue of parent-student communication during school is a salient one. 

He believes that as schools and districts implement cell phone restrictions, they also have a role to play in addressing parents’ concerns about how to reach their children.

“District leaders who have successfully implemented these policies talk about how it was important to be sure that parents knew how to get in touch with their kids without calling or texting their cell phones, usually by calling the school office,” Zimmerman wrote in an email to the News. “It’s of course also important for schools to make sure they have procedures in place that work. When a parent calls the school office, someone has to pick up the phone.”

Cell phone ban may miss bigger issues

Other New Haven Public Schools students believe that cell phone usage is just one of a host of problems that interfere with student engagement.

John Carlos Musser, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School and another student representative on the New Haven Board of Education, explained that infrastructure, mental health and staffing issues are part of the reason students are so inclined to turn to distractions. He thinks policymakers should focus on addressing those issues while they discourage cell phone use.

According to Musser, the library and music wing at Wilbur Cross have been shut down due to mold, and the ceiling of a classroom caved in during his sophomore year. Over the course of his first three years of high school, six of his teachers have gone on leave or formally left the school, leaving substitute teachers to lead classrooms.

“I feel like there’s a constant theme where we put a lot of blame on students,” Musser said. “We blame students for lack of engagement by going on their phones. But I think there’s other things institutionally that need to be faced and money needs to be spent on, rather than pouches.”

Musser agreed that a cell phone ban would be appropriate for elementary and middle school students, but highlighted the ways technology can also benefit students’ learning, especially in high school settings.

He noted that, because of dwindling support from the COVID-era Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, some students are losing access to school-provided computers.

“The way our assignments are given now, a lot of it is dependent on technology,” Musser said. “And for some kids, the only form of technology they have, because COVID relief money is no longer coming around and they’re not receiving computers, is their phone.”

Connecticut is among 14 states that have recommended or enforced cell phone bans in their public schools.