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Teenage hangups: the drastic plans to keep high
schoolers off their phones
Soon more than
1,000 schools nationwide will be using Yondr, a pouch
that students lock their phones in during class
Vivian Ho in San Francisco Wed 28 Aug 2019 06.00 BST
Pouch:
bossa / bolsa
Put your
cellphone away. Stop texting. Stop using the camera as a mirror. Stop looking
at Instagram. They’re the familiar commands of teachers and educators in the
age of the smartphone.
Most teenagers
today have grown up never knowing a world without smartphones, with the Pew
Research Center reporting that 95% of all teens currently have access to or own
a smartphone, and 45% are online almost constantly. That leaves educators the daunting challenge of teaching those whose attentions are – at
least partially – attached to the devices in their pockets.
Daunting:
discouraging
Most schools
have put in place policies banning or regulating phone usage during school
hours, and teachers now routinely find themselves confiscating devices or writing up students for being on their phones.
Writing up: possant notes / poniendo avisos
Educators are
now exploring more drastic measures. This school year, more than 1,000 schools
nationwide will be using Yondr, a pouch system that allows students to lock away
their phones while they’re in class.
Each morning
when students arrive at school, they magnetically lock their devices into their
own personal green and gray pouches. They maintain possession of their pouches
and devices, but they cannot unlock it until the end of the day, when they tap
it on an unlocking magnet station located throughout the school.
The concept is
not new. Musicians and performers have been using Yondr to prevent people from
filming their gigs since the San Francisco-based company launched in 2014. But
in recent years, more and more schools have begun using the pouches to keep
kids off their phones during school hours, with dozens in the Bay Area alone.
“Demand has tripled this year,” the Yondr spokeswoman Kelly Taylor said.
Allison
Silvestri, the former principal of San Lorenzo high school east of San
Francisco, implemented the tool three years ago. The results “were tremendous”,
she said. The students were paying attention more in class.
The school saw a
decrease in referrals for defiance and disrespect. “It was just so powerful to
hear students interacting with each other and interacting with adults on
campus,” she said.
Edward Huang,
16, was part of a pilot program that tested Yondr at San Mateo high school
before launching it this school year. He has mixed feelings about Yondr. He’s
noticed a difference in his peers. “People aren’t distracted,” he said. “Even
people who were on their phones in minor ways, like checking the time and checking
notifications, those minor ways add up and have an effect on how engaged you
are. Socially, it has improved us. Even if it’s all of us talking about how
much we hate it, having something to hate is a conversation topic.”
But he’s already
heard about issues some kids have had because they couldn’t check their phones.
Employers have tried to get in touch with students during the day, and
couldn’t.
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