Students Don’t Mind School’s Smartphone Ban

 

A boarding school in Massachusetts has banned smartphones for its students this semester. Buxton School, which has 57 students, takes pride in the familial atmosphere. But the closeness of their community was eroding year by year as smartphones took control of the students’ time.

We found our students had disengaged more and more from real life as their phones became their world.
—John Kalapos, Buxton’s associate head of school

  • Smartphones were banned at the beginning of the fall semester.
  • Students and teachers now use Light Phones, which have limited capability.
  • Students say the ban hasn’t been as bad as they feared.
  • Teachers say students are more engaged in class.

I’m a lot happier being on social media less. … Will I ever go back to having a phone with me all the time? I don’t know, but I hope not.
—Yamalia Marks, senior at Buxton

An article in the latest Trumpet magazine covers this very issue:

Our minds are being rewired to use, rely upon, and crave screens and the superficial world they display to us. Moments of peace, solitude and focus are few and far between. The quality of our thinking, the way we absorb and digest information, and the very nature of our lives is changing.

Read “How to Crush Screen Addiction” to learn how you can fight this prevalent addiction.