This is my first year at GDS, and I went into the year knowing almost no one. On the first day of Bridge Week, which is an opportunity for new freshmen to get to know each other and the school, the Forum was dead quiet — a lot of students were staring at their phones and not talking to each other. Many sat awkwardly apart, their phones an excuse to avoid meeting new people. I sat near people I had never met, but we didn’t introduce ourselves or start a conversation. Then, the ninth-grade dean announced that from then on, our phones had to be off and out of sight during the school day. For the rest of the day, instead of sitting apart, students started talking, getting to know each other.
Since school has begun, I have noticed students constantly talking to each other outside class instead of being on their phones — likely due to the new phone policy banning phones on campus from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The policy has sparked controversy throughout the high school; many students want to be able to use their phones throughout the school day to check their texts and emails, listen to music and play games. They are upset about having to put their phones away for seven hours during school. However, the decision to ban phones during the school day will not only boost students’ mental and physical health but will also strengthen our bond as a community.
To learn more about why the phone policy was created, I talked to neuroscience teacher Bobby Asher, one of the driving forces behind the ban. Asher emphasized that while we often think of phones as connectors, they actually isolate us from the members of our community. “When our heads are down, looking at phones in the halls and in the Forum, we’re not seeing some opportunities to connect with other people,” Asher said.
As a new kid at GDS, I don’t think I would have been able to create and strengthen the friendships I did make if not for the phone ban. Instead of going on my phone at lunch, allowing myself to rely on my old friends, I went to the field and the Forum and met new people. During my free periods, instead of pulling out my phone, I study and play games with my friends. I see students spending their free periods outside, enjoying hanging out with each other, which is much more valuable than time spent on phones.
Between the end of school and the start of sports practices, I see people talking to each other and playing games — very few on their phones. Even though the policy ends at 3:15, people aren’t rushing to check their texts and scroll on social media, because we no longer feel dependent on our phones for entertainment. This shift is key, because it’s allowing students to build relationships with people outside their friend circles, and even beyond their grade.
The Department of Statistics at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur found that students who used phones a lot experienced more eye strain, neck pain and back pain than those who didn’t. This demonstrates what many of us know from personal experience: the sore, achy feeling that our addictions to phones give us.
In the same study, when students who consistently used their phones and ones who did not answered the same questions about their mental health, the ones who did use their phones a lot reported more depression and mood disorders. The study showed that phones are directly linked to declining mental health.
The phone ban has so many benefits — boosting physical and mental health but also making our community so much more connected. Without our phones on the forefront of our mind, students are forming more friendships.
“I love what I’m seeing,” Asher said. “I’m hearing more laughter, people playing cards in the Forum the other day.” Since the phone ban, unlike that day of orientation, I see this cheerful environment Asher describes — students talking to each other and having lively conversations throughout the school. The phone ban may seem annoying and even counterproductive at times, but it will ultimately make such a positive social difference at GDS.