With a movement to limit mobile phone use in NSW high schools gaining huge momentum across the area, Peninsula Living investigates the impact devices are having on the academic, social, and sporting lives of our students and what rolling out restrictions could mean.
It started with a comment from a worried mother on a local parenting page.
“A member posted that her son was struggling to enjoy high school as all the kids were on their phones,” says Rachel Chappell, founder of online community North Shore Mums (NSM).
“Many were shocked that students were allowed to use phones during recess and lunch and said they shouldn’t be.”
Such a tidal wave of support from local parents ensued, that a petition was launched to lobby the NSW Government to change its devices in schools policy.
Mobile phones are already banned in primary schools across NSW, following a 2018 review by former NSW Education Minister, Rob Stokes. High schools, however, have the ‘flexibility to contextualise their (digital device) processes based on the needs and voice of the local community,’ confirms Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC, Minister for Education and Early Learning.
“Devices are swallowing up the lives of an entire generation” Dany Elachi Heads Up Alliance founder
While restrictions have been put in place in high schools across Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia, NSW currently has no plans to implement a change from its 2020 Student Use of Digital Devices and Online Services policy.
“Despite the NSM petition having now reached 25,000 signatures from worried parents and teachers, the government does not seem to be listening,” says mother-of three and Northern Sydney local, Ms Chappell.
A Department of Health Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Wellbeing revealed that mental health disorders affected at least one in seven school children, rising for high school students, with Deakin Health Economics warning that youth mental illness costs Australia almost $250 million a year. Couple this with headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation’s finding that 70 per cent of young Australians suffering from high rates of psychological distress have experienced cyberbullying, and there’s little denying a link.
“Social media has become a big part of life for young people and these findings highlight the serious impact cyberbullying can have on a young person’s mental health,” says headspace CEO, Jason Trethowan.
Other device-related concerns include falling socialisation and physical activity levels, distraction and the knock-on effects on academic success – particularly after COVID-19 disruption – as well as how best to protect young people from inappropriate online exposure.
After witnessing firsthand, the impact devices were having on their teenage daughter, Sydney-based Dany and Cynthia Elachi founded non-profit organisation the Heads Up Alliance, a growing movement of Australian families concerned about the effects of social media and smartphones on children.
“Devices are swallowing up the lives of an entire generation, and the same neurological tricks casinos use to hook gamblers are being employed by tech companies to hook our children,” Mr Elachi tells Peninsula Living.
“As parents we can’t just sit and watch.”
While the NSM petition is not calling for phones to be banned altogether, as some students will require access for medical or personal reasons, it proposes a consistent approach to usage across all NSW high schools, including restrictions during break times.
“Students spend many class hours on computers, so when it comes to essential breaks, it’s important that they are encouraged to socialise and be active,” adds NSM’s Ms Chappell.
A handful of local high schools, including Pittwater High in Mona Vale, have rolled out restrictions, with strong support from parents.
Principal Alison Gambino says that 95 per cent of parents who responded to a recent school survey felt that eliminating phone use during school hours would improve learning and wellbeing.
As a result, a ‘Phones Off and Away’ in the classroom policy has been upgraded to ‘Phones Off and Away All Day.’
“All students will be required to turn phones off and leave them in their bags before entering school grounds. Phones are to be accessed only upon leaving school grounds at the end of the day,” says Ms Gambino, who believes this move will not only improve learning but also ‘engagement and socialisation.’
Principal of Frenchs Forest’s Davidson High, David Rule, reported skyrocketing student interaction and physical activity during the first two months of limiting phone usage for years 7 to 10 while, further afield, Corinda State School in Brisbane received ‘almost unanimous support’ from parents prior to a 2019 smartphone ban, ending an epidemic of ‘heads down, thumbs going.’
The Heads Up Alliance feels strongly that NSW remains ‘years behind’ other states on the issue, a view shared by NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns, who voiced concern recently that smartphones were linked to a state-wide slump in academic standards and warned that our students could be ‘left behind’ in the ‘global competition.’
However, during the pandemic years in particular, digital devices were a lifesaver for those parents, students and teachers battling home learning and crying out for social connections.
The ACT Center for Equity in Learning also found a direct link between underserved students – those with less access to devices at home – and long-term academic and workplace success rates. This digital divide, or ‘inequitable access’ to technology could make complete bans on mobile devices at high schools ‘problematic,’ says the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council, as smartphones could be the only technology a student can access.
Strong support from principals, teachers and parents would also be essential for any blanket ban to be enforced successfully.
While few could dispute that, in the right capacity, technology is a hugely positive learning tool, the slide towards devices being used as a reality replacement, is concerning. It’s also essential adults look to our own position as influencers – not in the money spinning, product-shilling way some high schoolers may admire – but in terms of our relationship with devices and the message that sends to the younger community.
School breaktimes should remain just that – a break from the pressures and distractions of the online metropolis and the chance to socialise in real time. As the Heads Up Alliance says, “preserving these precious childhoods is key.”
By Catherine Lewis