I find phone ban discourse pretty funny. The media acts like banning phones in school was invented a month ago. Lots of schools have had strict phone bans in place for a long time. I don't have a great sense of the broader landscape, but where I live in Colorado, my district is behind. We implemented a strict phone ban this school year, while most districts near us put one in place last year.
Another piece I find funny is the growing recognition that students respond pretty well to phone bans. In schools like mine that mostly ignored phones before and now have strict bans, many students feel grateful. It's not everyone. Some students push back. But they're a very small minority.1
All that is interesting to me because of a truth about learning that I think isn't very well understood. Learning requires effort. Learning requires thinking, and humans are wired to avoid thinking when we can. In the short term, humans will often make choices to avoid effort and avoid learning. But in the long term, humans like to learn things. Learning feels good. Not always right away. But putting in the effort to learn something, then seeing a chance to use it and experiencing the benefits of that learning days or weeks later, is motivating. Humans get hooked on learning through those long-term feedback loops, through habits and routines, through the positive reinforcement of successful learning.2
We have schools because if we just said to kids, "Hey would you rather stare at your phone or learn about percents?," most kids would choose their phone. But if schools make kids put their phones away and do a good job of teaching students about percents, many students will realize learning is worthwhile. They’ll develop habits that start a virtuous cycle. Not everyone, sure. Schools aren’t perfect. Trying to educate all students is a messy job. But for many students, those basic tools get us most of the way to the finish line — and we can focus our energy on finding solutions for students who are falling through the cracks.
Giving students choice is a common motivational strategy in schools. I'm deeply ambivalent about choice. Choice can motivate students, but in many cases students will choose something that's easier and leads to less learning. If we can offer students choices where all of the options involve substantive learning, that's great. Let's do it. But too often that's not the case. It seems like we're finally recognizing that "Do you want to stare at your phone or learn things?" is not a choice we want to offer students. That same logic can help us think about lots of other choices we offer in schools. Often, the best way to motivate students is not to give them choice, but to provide structure that helps students learn and starts a long-term feedback loop that motivates students to want to learn more.
It’s important to get the details right. I'm lucky to work with a great team of teachers. We've been consistent, we've nailed the details, and students have responded well. I’ve heard anecdotes from schools that have lax, inconsistent, or poorly communicated phone policies and end up dealing with a mess or giving up entirely.
Many students who aren’t very motivated in school don’t experience those long-term feedback loops. They aren’t learning much, either because school is hard for them and the learning doesn’t stick, or because they’re ahead of their peers and already know most of it. That’s not the only reason students are unmotivated at school, but it’s a big one.
We also implemented a strict phone ban this year at my Colorado high school and I love it. It’s been pretty easy to enforce with the kids and they are definitely engaging with math for longer than they did without their phones.