The Future of Phones at Catlin

By Hadley Cress ‘27

Walking into Dant, it’s clear that Catlin Gabel School (CGS) has a phone problem, which has promoted talk about an upcoming phone policy. Many students are on their phones instead of talking to their peers.

This phone problem is not confined to CGS; It’s a national problem in the US. Teachers have been noticing students on their phones in class, whether it’s to watch Netflix, gamble, or simply send Snapchats.

This discussion of a new phone policy is to help students stay off their phones in class and be present at school.

The new potential phone policy is to have students use a magnetic pouch to store their phones for the school day.

Students would only have access to their phones when going out to lunch, which they would have to check out from the front desk and check back in after returning to campus.

During the first class of the day, students would lock their phones in this pouch, which would be unlocked with a magnet available for students to use during their last class of the day.

Administrators around the world have found that phones have taken over teenagers’ lives and they are suffering because of it. Studies show students are distracted in class and are more focused on their phones. They are missing important times to learn in school because of their phones.

There are many reasons for this phone policy. Aline Garcia Rubio, Head of the Upper School (US) mentioned the main ones are keeping students off their phones in class, encouraging conversation and human interaction, and limiting social media use.

Studies have shown that phones in schools are a distraction and can often lead to lower grades. The new phone policy is meant to help prevent this.

Similarly, a New York Times (NYT) article says, “It takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption.” This greatly decreases the time for students to learn. Having phones unavailable would make it so students could better show up in their classes and be fully present.

The phone policy is meant to ensure students are on task and focusing during the school day, and not on their phones.

When it comes to human interaction there are many examples in which students are on their phones instead of socializing. For example in Dant during breaks, students stare at their phones while sitting with each other instead of conversing.

Aline Garcia Rubio, Upper School Head, has noticed this, saying “I look into the lounge, a good chunk of students are on their phone and oftentimes are not interacting with each other.”

Finally, although there are ways around it, not having phones would make it harder for students to use social media in school. Social media can cause a whole host of problems such as anxiety and depression.

Some downsides to this possible new policy could be “that the logistics will get so complicated,” stated an anonymous source. It would create a lot of work for teachers to enforce and could have backlash from parents.

CGS Parent Sibel Candemir mentioned that it would make it hard to communicate with her kids while they were at school. She thinks she would communicate with them less if she had to go through the office because she would only contact them if it was very important.

Along with this, phones can be great communicators for students. According to the anonymous source, they can be used to organize study groups or meet up with friends. Limiting phone use could make it harder for students.

Another point raised was safety during dangerous situations like a fire or lockdown. However, experts have found that it’s actually safer for students to not have their phones during these situations.

Finally, this policy would not work without everyone's cooperation. Some students would end up finding ways around the system and the magnetic pouch would become simply another obstacle.

“If we're going to make that decision, there would have to be cultural buy-in for that change, and that would have to be both from the students and the faculty. I think parents also have to be on board. But primarily I think it has to be from students and faculty,” mentioned Garcia-Rubio.

Without support from all aspects of the school, this policy would cause more harm than good. This phone policy is meant to help students be more productive, stay off social media, and socialize with their peers more.

This idea is primarily backed up by heavy research done by administrators. However, at this point, Garcia-Rubio said, “No significant changes are coming your way” and “we are not at a point where we are going to make a change.”

If students want to learn more about the research the administration has done here are some links.