The general attitude was, 'Well, what are you going to do? The technology is here to stay. This is the way the kids connect. You can't fight the future,' Haidt tells TODAY.com after his broadcast appearance on Sept. 11. He has been advocating for a play-based childhood rather than a phone-based one.
These messages and dozens more like them could have been avoided had my daughter chatted with a classmate or waited to talk with me later. But just as objects in motion stay in motion, kids who have a cellphone use it. And my daughter has very much had hers while in school, when she's supposed to be focused on learning and engaging with the people around her.
Jamel Bishop is seeing a big change in his classrooms as he begins his senior year at Doss High School in Louisville, Kentucky, where cellphones are now banned during instructional time. In previous years, students often weren't paying attention and wasted class time by repeating questions, the teenager said. Now, teachers can provide "more one-on-one time for the students who actually need it." Kentucky is one of 17 states and the District of Columbia starting this school year with new restrictions, bringing the total to 35 states with laws or rules limiting phones and other electronic devices in school. This change has come remarkably quickly: Florida became the first state to pass such a law in 2023.
Labrador specifically referenced signs hung by Sarah Inama, a sixth grade history teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School who went viral in March after she revealed that Ada School District administration ordered her to remove signs in her classroom that read "In This Room, Everyone Is Welcome, Important, Accepted, Respected, Encouraged, Valued, Equal," and "Everyone Is Welcome Here."
