Cell Phones at Hill-Murray and Book Recommendation
Dear Hill-Murray Community,
It was 2007 when I made the leap from my old flip phone to my first smartphone, the original iPhone. I was a school principal at Maternity of Mary-St. Andrew’s in St. Paul at the time. The technology seemed life-changing for me then. I was amazed! Email on my phone, the apps, being productive and connected all the time. Now, 18 years later, I look back on the impact of the smartphone on my life and the lives of our young people, and I have a more balanced approach. This week, I would like to share with you what has been on my mind regarding the impact of connectedness, particularly with smartphones and social media as it relates to our young people.
In a previous school I led in New York, we had a few prominent social media and technology executives who sent their children to our school. I always found it interesting that their own children did not have access to any social media on their phones, and they received their cell phones later in their high school years. When I asked one of the executives about his philosophy, he said,”This technology and these apps are designed to be as addictive as possible. Why would I want to expose my daughter to this?”
As a school leader over the past decade, I have watched students’ social and emotional skills often degrade when handling many interactions behind a screen. I am continually reading and learning more about the effects of screen use, especially related to social media. One book in particular was compelling to me. I would like to recommend that Hill-Murray parents read The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathon Haidt.
He writes about how the play-based childhood many of us experienced has moved to a more virtual one in the last ten years. I have watched this experiment play out with children and teenagers again and again. I hope you will join me in reading this book if you have the time.
Among Haidt’s findings and recommendations is phone-free schools. He argues that there is really no reason to let kids have the greatest distraction device ever invented in their pockets during school hours. If they have their phones, they will be texting or more distracted during class, and they will be focused on other things. If they do not have phones, they will more likely listen to their teachers and spend time with other kids, developing their social and emotional IQ skills. In the context of his research, this recommendation has implications for us at Hill-Murray. How does our current cell phone policy support our students? Can we do better for our students? What might our future be in this regard?
Cell Phones at Hill-Murray
Currently, if you are a middle school student at Hill-Murray, you are not allowed to use cell phones except before and after school. This practice will continue in the coming year. In our high school, students are not allowed to use cell phones in class but can access them during hallway passing time, breaks, and lunch periods, although this is very hard to police as students are in many different transitions throughout the day.
Like our academic curriculum, we want to base our decisions impacting students on research, best practices, and the most recent data, while staying firmly grounded in our Catholic values. As we did with uniforms in my last President’s Perspective, I will address some of the issues and boundaries we want to set forth with cell phones at Hill-Murray.
All of the research has pointed to the fact that social media and the addictive nature of these platforms are not healthy for children and teenagers. Like other significant growth periods in a child’s life, there is a developmental age/period that is more appropriate for students regarding technology and connectedness. We know you send your children to Hill-Murray to learn and grow academically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. I often tell parents that there are periods in middle and high school where you have windows to learn particular skills – the brain is so pliable in the teenage years – and when the window closes, you cannot just reteach these skills at, let’s say, 21 or 25. Children and teenagers are hardwired for struggle, and the role of childhood is to learn some of the most essential lessons in life with grit and resilience that hopefully set us up for success and a life of purpose later in life.
Because of the significant pace at which our adolescent students’ brains are developing, we are responsible as parents and educators to take the steps necessary to empower their success. When we did not allow phones at all during the school day in my previous school in New York, the following spring, students reported in their survey that they were less stressed because they did not have to keep up on their snaps, social media, etc. during the school day because none of their classmates could either. The pressure to engage constantly stopped.
So at Hill-Murray, we will continue following the policy not to allow cell phones in the middle school. We will also begin creating a plan to eliminate cell phone use during the school day in the high school. Cell phones will always be available before and after school, and you can always call the school office to reach your child. This new approach in the high school will take some reflection, planning, and pacing so that the implementation of a new policy is smooth. We do not have a timeline yet, but you can expect to hear more from me as we bring students and faculty along in this change.
I am looking forward to the start of the academic year! As always, I am humbled to lead such an amazing school, and I thank all of you for your enduring support.
Sincerely,
Melissa Dan