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“I started practising at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario over 20 years ago. Back then, kids who were hospitalized wanted to know when they could see their parents. Today, their first question is, ‘When can I get my phone back?’”
— Dr. Michael Chang, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
This quote, shared with Bialik staff during the September PD days, has stuck with me. Cell phones make it easier to communicate, stay informed and interact with others, but they are also intentionally designed to be highly addictive. It’s worth asking: How much is too much, and when might it be helpful to create a little more space from the screen?
As parents and educators, we know that our children are growing up in a world different from the one we experienced. Our childhoods lacked the lure of constant notifications. We had stretches of time when there was nothing to respond to or compete for our attention. We would simply look up and be.
This school year, we launched a new device collection policy designed to help students fully re-engage with their peers, teachers and the learning process by reducing digital distractions. Each morning, devices are collected and securely stored from 9:05 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We extended this approach to our field trips as well. For the first excursions of the year, students turned in their devices at the start of the bus ride. They were provided access to cell phones during designated free time, allowing for suitable independence to navigate and buy lunch.
Recently, our Grade 6 students spent the day at Camp Robin Hood, taking part in team-building activities alongside their Mechanchim. Our Grade 7 students travelled to Niagara Falls, rode the Niagara City Cruise, visited the Butterfly Conservatory and explored Clifton Hill. Both field trips offered students opportunities to collaborate, explore and enjoy time with classmates. The itineraries were similar to those of prior years, yet the student experience was strikingly different. Phones were away, which allowed students to be fully present.
On the bus, students sang songs, did the wave with their arms and took turns being the DJ with the driver’s microphone. Students talked to the person beside them, changed seats and spoke to new people from the other branch. They asked their teachers questions about themselves, not their subjects. They were, quite simply, present. These very ordinary moments felt extraordinarily nostalgic.
Putting away devices created space for students to develop the intangibles that don’t appear in the curriculum. I witnessed countless moments of kindness, Menschlichkeit and connection: a friend reassuring a nervous classmate, students cheering one another on, and classes exchanging strategies to help others succeed in team-building activities. Without even realizing it, students were practising how to communicate clearly, persevere through challenges, problem solve and care for one another.
These are the kinds of skills you can’t download. They develop through shared experiences and relationships. Getting soaked by the falls, feeling a butterfly land on a nose, searching for the perfect souvenir or simply laughing with friends may seem like small moments, but they become shared memories. Those memories create deep bonds that strengthen a sense of belonging, community and Chevruta.
We want our students to have the confidence to try something new, the resilience to keep going when something is difficult, the vulnerability to ask for help and the empathy to lend a hand. These aptitudes develop in classrooms, on field trips, in the lunchroom, on the playground and through the many spontaneous interactions in between. They develop when students have the space to chat, problem solve and simply enjoy one another’s company.
Upon returning the cell phones, the shift was instantaneous. Notifications began. Heads went down. Messages were sent and received. Attention shifted to the screens.
These trips showed us what is possible when we give our students permission to look up. When we prompt students in Grades 4 to 8 to hand in their devices, we are creating conditions for greater focus, belonging and connection. We are enabling students to notice the person beside them, try something that feels a little uncomfortable and develop grit. In doing so, students make their own moments, rather than watch someone else’s being posted.