Kathy Do

Stay with us.

Yeah.

Based on our work, we suggest that repeated cell phone violations should prompt something like mental health support rather than suspensions.

You know, from the research from neuroscience and psychology, we know that

teens' brains and behaviors and self-regulation skills are still developing.

And so these youth's cell phone overuse might reflect some underlying mental health needs or challenges with developing self-regulation skills, not simply rule-breaking.

So I think we need to kind of be more open-minded about what that might look like for young people.

Did students ever react positively to these bans?

I think one kind of positive that we saw from what students were sharing about the kind of benefits for themselves that they've seen is just realizing what phone-free interactions kind of feel like, like really pushing them out of their shell to talk to other people that they might have otherwise, you know, just… Right, like engaging with their classmates who they're actually in the same room with.

Yeah.

Or like they appreciated being distraction free while learning.

Kind of what David was saying, like they appreciated having the phones away from their bodies so that they could really focus.

So those are some of the benefits that we heard from students.

And then from teachers, I think some of those, you know, lockable pouches or cubbies that keep phones away from students kind of person.

allowed the classroom to be more positive because the teacher wasn't like the keeper of the phone and enforcer of restrictions anymore.

And so there are some benefits as well.

Yeah, there is this tension between kind of family safety expectations, as you're saying, but also on the other side, crisis protocols.

Yeah, I think in some cases, in an emergency, it's really important for students, especially in the K-12 setting, to be paying attention to the adults giving directions about how to navigate this emergency instead of texting or not paying attention to what's happening.

And so in the moment, having access to phones matters.

Thank you so much for having me.