Anna Lembke

Well, this is a very dire concern of mine as well, especially because I feel like there is a pretty good solution for it, which is to say I believe that schools from elementary to middle school to high school should have top-down policies where phones are not allowed during school hours.

And this top-down policy means that everybody has to be off of their phone.

You eliminate the problem of FOMO or fear of missing out, which is a big driver of what gets kids going back online, in addition to the fact that these devices are just inherently highly reinforcing and addictive.

But when you have these top-down policies, it's a relief for kids.

Everybody's off their phone.

They have to be.

It's the rule.

And there are some really clever things that schools, some schools are doing now.

For example, there are these pouches that in some schools, kids, when they come to school in the morning, they put their device in the pouch.

The pouch is sealed or locked.

Then the kid keeps their phone with them, but they can't receive or transmit during the school day.

And at the end of the school day, the device is unlocked and kids can have their phones back and go back on their phones again.

And schools that are doing this are reporting that schools are noisy again.

Why are they noisy?

Because kids are interacting with each other.

There's also a private school in Massachusetts, the Buxton School, that took phones away from their private high school students.

And they noticed huge improvements in psychological and emotional well-being.

And I just think this is just...

both hopeful and also completely tragic that we are not en masse making this just standard policy for primary schools all the way up through 12th grade.

It's not fair to kids, it's not fair to teachers, it's not fair to anybody that these incredibly compelling devices create the kinds of environments that make it really difficult for folks to learn.