New Zealand's Student Cell Phone Ban Takes Full Effect Today
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses New Zealand's nationwide cell phone ban for students taking full effect.
Key Takeaways
- A national phone ban is possible - New Zealand has implemented a full student phone ban across the country
- International momentum is growing - Multiple countries are now banning phones in schools, creating a global trend
- The evidence supports it - Phone-free schools consistently report improved learning and social interaction
Transcript
New Zealand has completely banned cell phones in schools as of today.
And I think this is a really good thing and a really good model for what school districts around the world and school authorities around the world should do.
And it's very consistent with what Jonathan Haidt recommends in his new book, The Anxious Generation.
It is a complete ban on cell phone use, student cell phone use during the day.
And I like the way that the New Zealand government has left a lot of the specific details of implementing this ban up to local schools and the flexibility is there to either have students keep their phones in their bags, their lockers, turn phones into some sort of centralized lock.
You know, there's a lot of flexibility in exactly how they do this, but the rules are consistent with what Jonathan Haidt talks about in the anxious generation about like completely away for the entire day.
So no cell phones during passing period, no cell phones out during lunch or recess or anything like that.
So all of the benefits of in-person learning and being, in person with other people are there.
Kids are not glued to their devices.
They're able to engage with one another and talk with one another and not get into the trouble that can start when kids are on phones all the time.
So I think this is a really good thing.
Kudos to New Zealand for taking this bold step.
I think it's a real form of leadership.
to be decisive about something like this and to give guidance, but also some local flexibility.
And of course, when it comes to the United States, we are going to have to have local flexibility because ultimately the authority is at the local level.
We don't have a national ministry of education with the same degree of control.
So as local school authorities, I think we've got to do the same thing everywhere and just say like, this is a best practice.
We know it now.
We know the harms of having cell phones out in schools.
We know the benefits of making them be put away for the day.
And I think we have the flexibility we need within that to deal with a lot of the parent concerns.
You know, if there's an emergency, yes, like students can have their phones back or they can keep their phones in their bag but like away for the day really is the way to go and i'm very excited about this so let me know what you think about new zealand's new policy and let me know what's happening in your area are is there a discussion about this are phones being banned are they still a problem and not banned or is there a ban that's not being enforced leave a comment let me know