"what's with this new phone policy and why is it even here?" -- yuri espinoza, 7th grader.
TW: this article talks about heavy and touchy subjects such as suicide, mental health, self harm, gun violence/school shootings, and sexual topics.
On September 23, 2024 the governor of California signed “the phone– free school” act, AB 3216, forcing schools to implement a policy that limits or bans phone use during learning hours with the exception of medical necessities, emergencies, and other educational purposes allowed by faculty by July 1st.
This led many students to question, why? Many students are confused on why he would sign this act, people on Tik Tok even making videos on the law and how it should be the least of the governor’s concerns. Instead he should focus on the gun violence in school, the deaths and injuries caused by school fights.
Governor Newsom approved the act with the hopes of improving learning, lowering depression, anxiety, and suicide, stating, “We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues – but we have the power to intervene.”He went on to say that there are mountains of research pointing towards cell phones being the main issue in schools are the phones.
Research from Dylan Luks at Harvard University shows the effects of cell phones in a learning environment. Studies through surveys show that phones in the learning space affect grades negatively and have been shown to lower academic performance, “existing studies provide evidence that allowing phones in the classroom negatively impacts test scores and long-term learning retention. There are some correlational studies that suggest negative relationships between off-task device use and student achievement.”
Moreover, studies at other researchers such as Panorama Education, NCES, and more find the same problem: kids with phones in the learning environment don’t do well enough academically. While other kids may argue that phones aren’t the only reason the facts are there, phones may not be the only reason but they are a main contributing factor for bad academic performance.
How phones and social media affect mental health.
While schools take the learning into account they also take mental health into account as well. Studies from Columbia say that phones can create fomo (fear of missing out), they state “The constant stream of notifications and updates can create a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out, leading to increased anxiety and stress.”
They also express that social media can "contribute to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem,” which is very true. Social media has created a bunch of trends of beauty standards in today’s society, when you look at today's standards for girls, it’s a copy and paste of skinny hourglass shapes, small or button noses, a mid or big sized chest. Sure, chubby women can be accepted but only if they have big thighs that come with a bigger butt, a bigger chest, and their chub has to have curves.
Further more social media has a huge influence on people's mental and physical health, Columbia says it as well, they state “studies have shown a correlation between heavy social media use and depression, anxiety, loneliness, and suicidal ideation.” Many online platforms have unfiltered media, X is one major example of this. X, formerly known as twitter, has no filter systems at all, it’s common for tags such as #sh, #cutspo, #selfharm, and so many other tags that take you to gore to be out and about on that platform.
While this may seem irrelevant to some, kids can stumble upon things like this and that could be harmful for their development, as well as people who are recovering from things like that could also stumble upon it and could trigger a relapse. X isn’t the only platform to do this, there are sites on the internet that links you to people dying, either by suicide or murder. And these aren’t websites that need age verification, these are websites that just show it with no warnings or anything, just click a video and boom you watch someone die.
Social media is very harmful to the mind, many teenage girls on these platforms talk about how the only way they can feel loved is if they get sexualized or someone does it to them. Many children, who spend their life on youtube or online have encountered sexual topics that can lead to things like hypersexuality, and many other problems like addiction. And while that is a very real thing that happens to people no matter what age and gender it is something people need mental help for, going onto social media and posting about how you feel won’t help anyone.
Because of many posts, such as the ones mentioned, there have been many people all over social media like Tik Tok, Reddit, Pinterest, and X romanticizing poor mental health. Posts like that are harmful, romanticizing illnesses makes people with the illness feel invalidated, on top of that it leads to many kids wanting those illnesses that many have and struggle with.
The flaw with the phone policy ‘tackling mental health issues’ : school itself can still cause bad mental health and academic declines
While it is nice to take the mental health aspect into account, that doesn’t mean that it will help. Social media and phone use will still be possible, like in the highschool level of OSA will still be able to use phones during breaks, passing periods, and lunch time. And even after that, after school there is still a big portion of time where kids will be on their phones.
Eight grader, Cece burger, says “The policy is really stupid, even without phones people still harm themselves. People still get bullied, the only thing that’s changed is that the people who use music or their phone as a form of comfort no longer have it.” Burger explains that she believes the phone policy trying to ‘help’ mental health doesn’t make any sense, especially because people can still be harmed and have bad mental health with or without the phone.
When it comes to the mental health aspect, schools also affect students, academic pressures can cause a big mental health problem with students. Mountain Heights Academy explains that “The weight of homework, exams, and grades can feel like a heavy load, triggering feelings of anxiety, depression, and burnout.” Which is true, many students experience this.
Cory Vanhook, a 7th grader at OSA explains that, “So many teachers like Ms.P, assign so much work, especially big projects and expect it back in so little time. I can’t catch up, it’s so tiring.” She goes on to say that, “The phone policy is so stupid, banning phones for ‘mental health purposes’ is so stupid. I had horrible mental health before my phone, the only reason I haven’t done anything stupid is because of my phone, they need to understand that phones are NOT the issue for EVERYONE'S mental health.”
Constant pressure from peers, guardians/parents, and teachers at school to perform at their absolute best can make students develop a fear for failure and a constant perfectionism mindset. And while parents may not think like a bad thing, many students think it is. That constant weight to be the best can help them develop unhealthy habits and coping mechanisms. Mountain Heights Academy explains that students can develop addiction, self harm, and eating disorders as a way of coping with the pressure and stress.
“What if there is a school shooting!?”: this part of the article is mainly for students
Students always bring up a very important topic when it comes to phones in schools: school shootings.Many of the first 911 calls during school shootings come from inside the building, typically they come from a staff or student.
Anna Jemeneze, an 8th grade Lit Arts student says, “I shouldn’t have to worry about a school shooting happening and not even getting to call for help or even getting to say my last goodbyes to my parents, that’s just not something you should have to fear as a middle schooler, you know?”
However, William Amos, a middle school math teacher at OSA explains why having phones in situations like that wouldn’t necessarily be useful. “I understand that in cases like that students would want to call for help and send their goodbyes to their parents, however the phone policy is there so that those don’t have to be your last goodbyes,” he goes on to say, “if you think about it there are over 100-200 phones at this school? If all those phones were making a phone call to the police it would be more likely that we wouldn’t reach the police at all because it’s being flooded with calls.” And it’s true, many times police calls get delayed because of how many calls they get. If there were around even half as many students calling do you really believe you’d get to a cop? No, probably not.
Another staff member of OSA, Daniel Qiu, says “Even without a phone you should be safe, in a situation like in a school shooting or a fight there should always be an adult around who has a phone.”
While yes these are some very real fears, your phones just won’t help you.
