Personal Technology: Brower Briefing

Personal Technology Devices

Dear Westminster Families,

Out of a deep heart of love for your children, out of an earnest desire to maximize your children’s educational experience, with a keen eye on enriching the culture and community of our school, and a willing and eager heart to tightly link arms with you as parents in the ever-changing and challenging world where we are called to raise our children - I offer the following words for you as we co-labor together in Christ. As you read, I trust you will hear my heart for your children and you as parents in the awesome task of raising the next generation for Christ!  Please read thoroughly.

In Walden, his 1854 reflection on simple living, Henry David Thoreau wrote,  

“The cost of a thing is the amount of…life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”
Since the Great Rewiring that began in 2010 when we went from flip phone to smartphone, and a move to phone-based childhood, we are no longer left to wonder the cost of what we have exchanged for healthy human development.

The research is clear and sober: Excessive availability and exposure to cell phones within the school environment hurts learning and development among school-aged children. Lower test scores, depression/anxiety, negative body image, bullying, self-harm/suicide, social dysfunction, and insomnia are many of the results seen in teens today. In addition, research shows excessive cell phone use reduces students’ critical thinking abilities, cognitive capacity, and creativity. Experts say that for some adolescents, cell phone dependency or addiction is as powerful as an opioid or vaping addiction. In The Coddling of the American Mind, the authors cite studies (2018) that identify a steep increase in major depression among teens (ages 12-17) since 2010. Sadly, there has been a 145% increase among girls and 161% increase among boys. Equally alarming is the 188% increase of emergency room visits for self-harm among girls and 48% increase among boys since 2010. 

Recent studies have directly linked cell phone use to increased distractibility or fragmentation. It is not surprising that one study reveals that the average teen receives 192 notifications per day from their various social media apps. That equates to 11 notifications per hour, or one every five minutes. Heavy users average one interruption per minute. 

Coupling this fragmentation with the sleep deprivation associated with high social media-using teens helps us to understand why learning and grades are suffering as we consider the concentration, focus, and memory recall necessary to be successful in school. Teens need between 8-9 hours of sleep, but close to half of all teens are getting fewer than 7 hours of sleep per night.  

A teen’s brain is 80% developed. The 20% not yet developed is the frontal cortex, known for controlling reasoning and impulse control. Unfortunately, this is the last part of the brain to develop, at around 20+ years of age. Notifications and phone vibrations release dopamine that trigger teens to desire the “reward” and continuous indulgence in whatever the glowing screen offers. Sadly, the wearing smooth of this neural pathway in the not fully-developed brain develops a pathway requiring continuous and intensifying stimulation that does not leave us surprised that the average teen now spends the equivalent of a 40-hour workweek on their device!

All this has led to significant social deprivation. When we began the Great Rewiring, teen face-to-face settings plummeted immediately from 122 minutes per day in 2012 to 67 minutes per day in 2019. By COVID, teens were already “socially distancing” before COVID restrictions were even in place. It is not surprising then that recent studies have also shown that students are happier, far more socially engaged, and experience higher self-esteem and levels of life satisfaction when cell phones are not available.  

While we have worked to limit cell phone use on campus for a number of years, our leadership team, along with the Westminster Schools of Augusta Board of Trustees, including our legal counsel, have made an important decision to move to a “no phone zone” so that there is no student phone use across our campus during the day hours of operation. In short, this means students will not be able to access their phones or any other supporting devices, including but not limited to smartwatches and iPads, during the school day.

I fully understand after reading this last statement that the immediate responses from our parent constituents might be varied. Please hear me out. At its core, Westminster Schools of Augusta is concerned with the genuine growth and development of our young people God has entrusted us to teach and train. As such, we are continuously reviewing research and evaluating our own practices and those of schools around the country in order to improve the educational experience for our students. Enough time has passed, and enough research is now in which we can no longer avoid regarding cell phone use in school environments. Out of our abundant care for our students’ spiritual, academic, social, and emotional development, well-being, and sense of community and belonging, we believe such a step forward is important. 

Many like-minded private, public, and Christian schools across the country have already taken this step for student phone-free zones. In fact, Florida and Indiana have passed laws now banning cell phones in school and there are currently other states working on similar legislation for the very reasons I have stated above. Georgia’s code to permit or prohibit electronic communication devices is up to the will of the local school board. (2010) To date, three-fourths of schools in America have some policy on cell phone restrictions, and yet in 2023 Common Sense Media shared in a recent study that 97% of students still use phones in schools. Teachers are spending way too much time dealing with phone issues versus their primary role and responsibility of teaching and educating this next generation of young people. 

I have had school leaders share that they have moved to this position we have now taken - some three to four years ago now. In hearing from and speaking to school leaders of these schools, they have shared the profound effect that this has had on their school culture and students’ learning. They have seen a radical decrease in student drama, distractions, and discipline, along with a strong and steady increase in student learning and interpersonal relationships among peers.  

Yes, this will be an adjustment. For some, their phones are like appendages and to be without it feels like an initial loss. However, anytime we take a team or a grade away on a trip or a retreat where phones are taken up so they “have to” engage with others around them, the positive response is overwhelming among students. They end up saying, “THANK YOU” as they lift their eyes from their phones and see one another as worthy of their engagement and someone with whom they might find community and friendship. It is also important to remember that students in grades 6-12 will still have a school-issued laptop with which they can communicate with parents via email.

So, given the research, and out of love and care for our students and our Westminster community, we believe it is in the best interest of our students to establish a learning environment free of student cell phones. It is our earnest hope that the heartbeat of our community will be strengthened by the depth of relationships as we engage in uninterrupted face-to-face conversations, where students are fully present during school hours. Children thrive when they are rooted in real-world communities, not in disembodied virtual networks.  

We would encourage all parents to pick up a copy of the New York Times Best Seller Book, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. 

If you have any further questions regarding the implementation of the “no phone zone” policy, please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate grade-level principal. Thank you in advance for your support as we endeavor to do what is best for your child’s educational experience and success at Westminster Schools of Augusta. 

Note: Except for The Coddling of the American Mind (2018) study, the other statistics noted in this letter are taken from Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation (2024). 

Grateful for our partnership!

 

 

Dr. Shawn Brower
Head of School