The movement to remove smartphones from schools is gaining momentum.
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Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest public school system, voted to ban smartphones starting in January, citing the detrimental effects social media has on children's health. And Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, said in an op-ed in the New York Times calling for warning labels to be placed on social media systems: “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency.”
But some longtime teachers say that while the move is a step in the right direction, educators need to take a more active role in countering the negative effects of excessive social media use among students. Essentially, they need to redesign instruction methods that help teach on-task and mental focus, and model how to read, write, and research away from the constant interruption of social media and app notifications.
That's the view of Lee Underwood, a 12th grade AP English Literature and Composition teacher at Millikan High School in Long Beach, California, and the public school system's 2022 Teacher of the Year.
He's been teaching since 2006, so he remembers the days before the iPhone, Instagram or TikTok were invented. And he said he is concerned about changes in student behavior that have deepened in recent years.
“There’s a sense of helplessness that didn’t exist before,” he says. “The students’ responses have become faster and sharper. “There was a greater willingness to engage in conversation and have dynamic conversations.”
He tried to maintain a teaching style that he thought worked, but students responded differently. “For the last three or four years since COVID, the jokes I’ve been telling in the classroom haven’t really landed,” he says. “And they’re the same joke.”
Underwood has been an avid reader of popular books and articles about the impact of smartphones on today’s youth. For example, he has read Jonathan Haidt’s much-talked-about book, “The Anxious Generation,” which has helped spur more efforts in schools to address the consequences of smartphones and social media.
However, some have countered Haidt's claims by pointing out that while young people are facing increasing mental health problems, there is little scientific evidence to suggest that social media causes these problems. And on this podcast last month, Ellen Galinsky, author of the book What Brain Science Reveals About How Best to Teach Teens, argued that banning social media could be counterproductive and that kids should learn how to regulate their own smartphone use. I did. Prepare for the world beyond school.
“The evidence shows very clearly that the ‘just say no’ approach does not work during adolescence when autonomy is needed,” she said. “Studies on smoking have shown an increase in smoking.”
However, Underwood claims that she has felt firsthand the impact social media has had on her focus and concentration. And these days, he's changing what he does in his classroom to introduce techniques and strategies to help counter the negative effects of smartphones he's experienced.
And he had a strong reaction to Galinsky's claims.
“We don’t allow kids to smoke at school,” he points out. “Maybe some of the ‘just don’t campaign’ pieces were largely ineffective, but no one allows smoking in schools.”
His hope is that the school day will be a time where students know they can escape the downsides of smartphone and social media use.
“It’s six hours of class time where we can give students some kind of homeostasis and see what it’s like without being constantly interrupted,” he argues.
Watch the full conversation and examples of how he redesigned his classes in this week's episode. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or use the player on this page.