Fredericksburg Parent

www.FredericksburgParent.NET 13 The beaches are packed, airports are slammed with summer travelers, and the highways are bumper-to- bumper most days of the week with people fleeing and returning home. School books and teachers and homework seem a world away. In reality, they're less than a month away. The big news this year involves cell phones. Or, more specifically, the absence of them. Fredericksburg, Caroline, King George, and Stafford are all working through policies that would restrict student cell phone use in school. In Spotsylvania, the possibility of a ban was first dis- cussed at the July 8 board meeting, though any action will likely not occur until next school year. The most-stringent policy currently looks to be in Fredericksburg, where middle- and high-school students will be required to store phones in Yondr pouches, which are then locked and can only be unlocked at designated unlocking stations. Students will put the phones in pouches upon arrival and will not be allowed to remove them with limited exceptions during the day. The trend toward phone-free schools has been building for several years as it has become more apparent that phones are a significant disruption in classes. Here's what you need to know about the issues. (To learn about the policies in your districts, speak directly with your school, as policies are evolving quickly.) • More than mere distraction to learning, students' dependence upon smartphones are described as addiction. A study by Common Sense Media in 2016 found that half of students were addicted to their smartphones. Those percentages are surely higher now. • Smartphones have a destructive effect on students' ability to concentrate and process information. One of the earliest studies was conducted in England by Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy. Their research paper "Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance" found that performance on high-stakes tests following cell phone bans in select English dis- tricts improved student test scores by 6.41% of a standard devia- tion. More eye-opening was the finding that the improvement was 14.23% of a standard deviation among the most disadvantaged and underachieving pupils. WRITTEN BY MARTIN DAVIS Local School Districts Hanging Up On Student Cell Phone Use For Upcoming School Year Predictably, parents and students have pushed back, but right now the schools in this area are holding strong. So be prepared to help your children deal with what is sure to be a different classroom environment this school year. One way to do this is to recognize that adults are no less addicted to their phones than their children. How addicted are we? Almost half of us say we get panicky when our phone battery drops below 20%. Three-fourths of us check our phones within five minutes of receiving a notification. The same percentage use our phones in the bathroom. As with so many things, modeling behavior is the best way to lead others to a place they don't want to go. Here are tips for families as they prepare for school's return. � DISALLOW PHONES WHILE EATING. This not only removes the offending device, but it creates space to work on conversational skills, which younger people are strug- gling mightily with these days. � PLAN PHONE-FREE FRIDAYS. Go for walks, paint a room, read, go to a concert, go shopping, whatever activities you plan for the day, plan to do them with your phones at home. Remember, the problem isn't just using the phone, it's being physically separated from it. • CHARGE PHONES AT NIGHT IN ANY PART OF THE HOUSE BUT THE BEDROOM. This improves one's comfort level with being physically apart from your phone. This is going to be a significant change for students. Parents shouldn't ask them to do it alone. Go phone-free with them. The separation will be tough at first, but the face-to-face inter- action will yield life-long benefits. This piece is reported by our sister publica on, the FXBG Advance. The Advance is a nonprofi t newsroom providing independent repor ng on local government and issues. To subscribe go to fxbgadvance.com

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