Students shuffled from one classroom to another on Thursday afternoon, most of them chatting with their friends, but some were on their phones.
Smartphones can be a big distraction for students, and high school teachers often have to police cellphone use in their classrooms to keep kids focused.
Aspen School District staff are joining schools across the country and considering new policies to remove this distraction, but even the toughest districtwide policies may not be enough to curb smartphone addiction.
As a sophomore, Josie Brands has some pretty good boundaries with her phone.
Her parents don’t allow her to have social media, which naturally limits her screen time, and she’s happy that her life doesn’t revolve around her phone.
“I do see a lot of people just on their phones completely disconnected, and that makes me sad,” Brands said.
She thinks Aspen High School’s current approach to limiting cellphone use is good enough if it’s enforced.
The current policy has teachers collect cellphones at the beginning of each class, and students put their phones in what looks like a blue shoe hanger that has a pocket for each person.
Journalism teacher Sarah Ward uses this to take attendance. If someone doesn’t turn their phone in, they are marked absent, and Ward said enforcement can be tough.
“You can see how long it takes to make that happen,” Ward said. “I have to redirect them many times to put the phone in the pocket.”
This school year, she caught a student putting a burner phone in their pocket once before while keeping their real smartphone at their desk.
Students say their peers do this a lot, and some even compare the compulsion to check their smartphones to cocaine addiction.
According to a survey conducted by the Aspen School District, nearly all students said smartphones aren’t a problem in their classrooms, but the students who spoke to Aspen Public Radio had more nuanced opinions.
Aspen junior Gia Galindo Bartley fantasizes about a day when she won’t need a smartphone anymore for her social life.
“Personally, I don't think it's healthy,” Galindo Bartley said. “In high school, not having a phone really disconnects you from your peers. … I feel like when you're an adult, it might be easier.”
The Aspen School District is considering limiting cellphone use more than it does now, such as making students put their phones in a locked pouch during the whole school day or only allowing flip phones on campus that don’t have internet or social media access.
Dr. Annie Margaret is the CEO and a co-founder of the Post-Internet Project, and her research focuses on how smartphones and social media impact adolescent mental health.
She gave an interview with Aspen Public Radio on March 14.
“That sense of belonging was kind of the difference between having food and reproductive access and not,” Dr. Margaret said. “We evolved to crave that and need it. … And now we have phones where we have this constant connection, and now our brains can't really tell the difference.”
She recognized that schools will probably see better student focus by enforcing some level of a smartphone ban at school, but smartphone addiction is individualized.
“Some people can eat gluten, and some people can't,” Dr. Margaret said. “Some people can eat dairy and some people can't, and some people can go on TikTok for 30 minutes and pretty much feel fine, and some people can't.”
Some of these addiction issues may be beyond what school districts can fix with the new policies they’re considering.
Dr. Margaret helps young adults limit their smartphone and social media use. The project helps participants set their own goals for cutting back, spend time reflecting on their use, and then learn about addictive design.
She thinks that agency makes them more likely to succeed.
“They’re looking at their own behavior,” Dr. Margaret said. “They’re looking at their own feelings about their behavior and trying to really develop that skill of what healthy media consumption feels like for them.”
Students at Aspen High School are still overwhelmingly against more restrictive cellphone policies despite valuing the break they get when they aren’t allowed their phones for days at a time. A program at the beginning of the school year sends students on outdoor and cultural trips that forbid cell phones, which many students said can help them connect more with their peers.
Dr. Margaret suggests phasing in new policies so kids can adjust, but Aspen junior Galindo Bartley isn’t sure. She said kids will be angry, but if a new policy is implemented on the first day of school next year, she thinks her classmates will learn to adjust eventually.
“People are going to be outdoors more. … We're just going to be outside during lunch rather than just sitting at a table and making a TikTok with your friends … I'd have to go out and do things.”
School district staff are still in the beginning phases of discussing a possible smartphone ban and haven’t decided which new policy they prefer.
Once they do, they’ll request feedback from students, parents, and staff before making a recommendation to the school board.
Copyright 2024 Aspen Public Radio.
