In the annals of long distance travel - whether by skiff or Shinkansen, by Ryanair or Ford Ranger - no singular invention has made travelling with younguns more bearable than the invention of the hand-held screen.  The fidgety knuckleheadness of chair-strapped youths almost overnight vanished when this glorious, golden personalized player emerged from the bag of wet wipes, crackers and squished bananas. Enter Teletubbies, Superfriends, Brawl Stars and Roblox.

Boredom vanished overnight.  But so also vanished wrestling with your sister in the backseat, playing “Eye Spy” as you drove down the freeway, staring out the window to fields upon fields of unidentifiable veggies, and talking to your parents about barely believable stories from their childhood. 

Our childrens’ heads fell down to their laps and they stopped looking up.

A few years later, the cell phone emerged, and no longer did our hands just hold mini-films, TV shows and games, but it now housed thousands of technologies all in one place.  Think for a moment of the 1990s and 2000s technologies that are in your cell phone - a TV, map, camera, video camera, stereo, speaker, DVD player, floppy disk, satellite phone, answering machine, pager, alarm clock, game console, calculator, typewriter, GPS navigator, flashlight, compass, web browser, scanner, and even an insulin distribution system that can help a diabetic regulate their sugar levels.

That list.  Truly remarkable. 

If you ever wondered why people don’t blush at spending X dollars on a cell phone, maybe it’s because it would have taken us thousands of dollars once upon a time to gather all those tech tools under one roof.

AND…as remarkable as they are, they are also one of the most dangerous items in our lives and they’re causing countless problems in homes, workplaces and schools.  

They bring the world to our fingertips, but they also bring academic distraction, decreased attention spans, cheating and plagiarism, exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, sleep deprivation, low self-esteem, increased anxiety, reduced face-to-face social skills, eye strain, neck and back problems, increased rates of obesity, boredom intolerance and addiction.

Some people have equated the cell phone (and its subsequent addiction characteristics) to the cigarette.

I struggle with that comparison.  The pros/cons list of cigarettes doesn’t come anywhere close to that of the cell phone, so the comparisons are surface level and just a bit lazy.

For many, the cell phone is the singular most important possession in their lives.  It is their lives.

And that is why when any group starts talking about adjusting access to the phone, people have more than just a few feelings.  

We all sensed something might be too good to be true with cell phones, but the pros always felt like they outweighed the cons.  But as the years passed and we headed into the 2020s, our institutions started looking around, our social science professionals started talking, and our health organizations started conducting research.  The US Surgeon General came out with a series of dire warnings for how the cell phone and its held social media apps were damaging our children’s bodies and minds.  UNESCO called for a ban in schools.   
And then whistleblowers started revealing how social media companies were leveraging AI technology to track and respond to children’s usage so they would have lifelong customers.  And with a cell phone, these lifelong customers would always be within grasp of their products.

And then Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation came out, galvanizing public opinion that something had to change.  Not only did he discuss the transformation from play-based childhoods to screen-based childhoods, he then delved deeply on how since 2015, adolescent mental health has been devastated by a screen-based existence, where the proprietors have created games, images, videos, communication networks and algorithms to ensure you keep coming back for more. 

In the months leading up to the 2024 school year, one by one, schools, districts, states, and nations started banning cell phones at schools.  

At AAS, we saw how it was affecting students - how they arrived at school, how they engaged in their learning, how they connected during breaks and lunches, and how their after school screen worlds were infecting their at-school lives.  

Our struggle with the best next steps for our school was that our students have created this precious culture where they have freedoms and they rarely abuse them.  Our lockers remain unlocked.  Our table puzzles remain untouched.  Our students have proven time and again that they can be trusted, respected and honored at levels far beyond what one would expect from young adults their age.

But we kept going back to the harm caused.  Were the plusses worth the pain?  Were the advantages worth the missed opportunities and the bad habit development.

We had the benefit of learning from our peer schools, as a vast number of international schools started this year with an adjusted cell phone policy.  We contacted CEESA schools and dozens of international schools around the world and learned from them.  What did they consider initially?  What worked?  What created more problems?  How did the community react?  If you could do it over, what would you do differently?  What’s life on your campus been like since your changes?

Starting in April, we rolled out a plan to bring our students closer to our primary goals: be present for learning, make deeper connections, socialize and experience more, all the while creating a safer space from the negatives of this technology tool. 

In April we rolled out our enforced expectations for Middle School students:

 “AAS students are not permitted to use their mobile phones during the school day. They must be kept in either their bags or lockers. In cases of emergency, both parents and students use the main reception desk.”

First, we informed students and families so they could start having needed conversations.  Second, we had a week of expectation reminders.  Third, we had two weeks where we confiscated seen phones and returned them at the end of the day.  And fourth, we started the practice of families needing to come in to pick up phones if they were accessed during the day.  

Initially we took away on average 2 phones per day.  Over the last two weeks, that number has dropped to an average of.66 phones per day.  Most days it’s 0.

Now, we have moved to implementing a similar roll-out plan for High School students. After initial personal usage self-reflection and faculty reminders, they will too be expected, starting June 2, to have their phones in their backpacks or lockers for the entirety of the school day.

Because HS usage patterns and rates differ significantly from those of their younger classmates, and because of their proximity to adult responsibilities, this transition will inevitably look different for some.  HS  have already respectfully met with us and also shared emails voicing their concerns around 1) how the devices are used to enhance learning, 2) the feelings of being infantilized and not trusted, 3) the need for them to be prepared for the responsibilities of adulthood,  and 4) needed exceptions for those with health considerations.  

Earlier today, we held a Parent Coffee to 1) understand the situation, 2) look at the pros and cons of removing cell phones from schools, and 3) look at our school’s next steps.  Parents brought up some key points of consideration, including 1) the consideration for Grade 12 students and their unique self-management needs as they head to university, 2) the question over whether WiFi speed will be impacted due to increased laptop usage, 3) the value of having students reflect over time on their practices, and 4) how laptops will be able to replace many of the school functions currently being used by cell phones.  If you would like a copy of today’s presentation, please contact the Communications Office.

We will have a student forum with Dr. Fries and myself next Friday where additional student thoughts can be shared, and we’ll look to address each.

We’re realistic about the coming days.  Most schools have shared that there are initial frustrations and adjustments and for the vast majority of students, these hurdles soon subside.  

One of the hardest challenges will be the new free time.  We’ll help provide some options for how to direct interests - building an outdoor basketball area, bringing in outdoor table tennis, providing open mic musical performances, offering a range of indoor games.  And also, students will also have time to just be bored.  Because oftentimes that is when the best memories are made.

And inevitably, as the weeks pass, one by one, we hope that when we see the students, they’re more engaged, more connected, and, above all, they’ve started to…

Look up.