Enforcing the no-phones rule: Boredom for students, 'bliss' for teachers

Smartphone bans are becoming the norm across the U.S. and in many other countries. School-wide enforcement is the key to success, writes Gilbert Schuerch, who teaches P.E. and health in a Harlem high school and writes on Fit To Teach.

His high school "banned" phones, but let students carry them in their pockets, he writes. "The moment a teenager felt a vibration in their pocket, a command from Satan himself wouldn’t stop them from checking their screen."

The school tried Yondr: Students had to slip their phones into a "unbreakable" pouch, locked by a magnet device, as they entered the school. A staffer would unlock the pouches at the end of the day.

Students were bored, he writes. Teachers -- no longer constantly telling students "put your phone away" -- enjoyed three days of bliss.

Then, Yondr unleashed a wave of creativity. Students could feel the phone vibrating in its pouch, unleashing a dopamine burst, the teacher writes. "They had to know. They had to see. It drove them mad."

Some stabbed through the fake Kevlar punches with pens or used keys to saw off the locking mechanism. Others would bring "let the dean watch them pop their old phone into the pouch at entry, and keep their main phone in their backpack until the coast was clear."

One student bought an unlocking magnet for $50 on Amazon, then charged classmates a dollar for every time they wanted to free their phone.

This school year, the ban is working, writes Schuerch. Phones are placed in a lock box from first bell to last bell. Students who try to smuggle a phone past the door face "immediate detention, a call home to parents, and a personal visit from the dean mid-class."

Teachers call the dean when a student is seen with any tech that can connect to the internet.

"Every kid who tried to push the boundaries received the same kind of consequences from us every single time," he writes. Eventually, students accepted it.

"The results have been spectacular," Schuerch writes.

Students talk to each other between classes. The cafeteria is full of conversation. Teachers cover the material faster. Cyberbullying has fallen. When a fight happens, half the school doesn’t immediately run out of the classroom to watch. Mindless doomscrolling happens on their time, not school time. Boys can’t watch porn in the bathroom (or the cafeteria).

Students "are smarter, more social, and more motivated to do the things they actually want to accomplish in this world when they don’t have a Pavlovian vibration derailing their attention every 20 seconds," writes Schuerch.

New York State just passed a “bell to bell” cell phone ban that will help -- if it's enforced, he writes. "Teachers need it, but the kids need it more."

His students spend most of their weekends staring at screens, they tell him. Two years ago, when he required health students to use a screen-tracking app and report their Sunday screen time, the average was nearly 11 hours on screen. One girl reported 17 hours. "It was a Sunday. I didn't have much else to do."

A little boredom can be good for the nervous system and mental health, say researchers. Our brains and bodies need down time to "reset and recharge," write Michelle Kennedy and Daniel Hermens. "We need to embrace the pause."