Brilliant. There's so much to like about this post. First, the subject matter---so important, so timely. Second, the mini-tutorial in how science research works and, third, the very interesting results. Plus, I really appreciate the conclusion---that---before you take away one attention-capturing device you need to think carefully about what replaces it. Believe it or not, I almost never use a smart phone---yes, it IS possible---but I am hardly immune. I sit at this computer and read and type and read and type almost every day. It's always good to be reminded of our capacity for addiction.
When I was in 6th grade, long ago, there was a hood named Willie Pfingston in 8th grade who sauntered down the hall--Willie never walked, only sauntered--with his jeans low on his hips and his shirt tail out. In those days, pullover shirts were not allowed, and students only wore button down shirts. The school administration admonished boys not to unbutton more than the top button on their shirts, so Willie cut the buttons off of all of his shirts. It became a thing for the boys to roll their shirt sleeves up halfway on their forearms, and the administration ordered an end to rolling up of shirt sleeves--/so Willie cut off his shirt sleeves to the level he deemed appropriate. He never spoke loudly, and he never behaved or spoke in a disrespectful manner. When I was in 7th grade, there was a hood named Willie Pfingston still in 8th grade who sauntered down the hall. Is that year, although he was not yet old enough for a driver's license, Willie bought a car ... being Willie Pfingston, he drove it to school. He's the only kid I ever knew who drove to grade school. 35 years later, I thought of Willie Pfingston and wondered whether he was in prison or dead; I could not imagine any other outcome for that rebel, that outcast, that renegade. So I determined to find out. Willie never went to high school; he completed 8th grade and when the autumn rolled around he just didn't go. When he was 19, he married his 15 year old girlfriend. When I found and met him, he and Linda had been married for 30 years, had a bunch of children, owned their own house out in the country--which she told me they had bought in order to be away from the problems of the city--and Willie had been employed for a long time as a highly trained expert, operating computer-connected lathes in high-tech manufacturing facilities. And linda told me, "Willie & school just didn't much get along." So, I don't know about attention, or pouches, or how to figure out what's best for middle schoolers. But I long ago learned some things Willie Pfingston taught me 6th and 7th grades: it is possible to assert one's self without being disruptive, it is possible to successfully resist unreasonable authority, and it is possible to make one's way in an unorthodox manner that suits oneself.
You've made great points Justin. In regards to taking something away and what you should replace it with. When I was at school many moons ago. Cell phones hadn't been invented and the only land phone within blocks was the telephone box on some corners of some streets. Also in one street I lived on was a doctors residence so they had a phone. Not many private phones existed. The lack of subject matter within the first year is easily explained. It's an addiction. When I go to bed I mute my phone. If I'm going to be talking with someone for over an hour or so I turn it off. As I say I never had to fight an addiction though. It's also good that they continued the ban for over a year. The addiction phase has passed. So, the fact that many kids grades didn't improve could just mean that the teacher wasn't compelling enough for them to absorb their lessons. Not you of course because if a teacher is excited about a subject they can infect the students. Most of the schools I went to were strict. If you messed around you got punished. A caning generally. I'm not saying bring back corporal punishment but having to write your transgression on the board over a hundred times did work for us. I fortunately was a quiet to normal kid. Which was because when at home we talked to each other. A lot. So many children don't talk with their parents. They don't always eat together at the table or even eat the same food. Some have grown up with a tray on their knee whilst watching a TV show. So again they are avoiding conversation. As I walk through the park I see teens sitting together on a bench not talking to each other, they are doing things on their phone. So even when they're "hanging out" they are still not engaging with the real world of humans. Instant gratification is what they are growing up with. As to adults. Who knows why they have to check their phones every minute of the day!!!
Never had any kids so I will elect to skip those lectures.
As the poster child of latch-key children and all the misdeeds, misadventures and misdemeanors that comes with the position...who am I to tell little people what to do?
My twins are about to graduate from high school. At some of the best-funded public schools in two different states, Common Core "standards" (a standard is something that is slightly different in every state and is tweaked constantly, right?) without quality texts has resulted in trashing excellent textbooks and replacing them with school issued devices like iPads and Chromebooks, which are still distracting, and teachers scrambling to find their own materials. Those materials are usually one-size-fits-all without the highlighted key concepts, full text of standard requirements and enrichments sections for gifted kids that good texts used to have.
Parents who are addicted to phones--kids do what we do, not what we say--give kids phones and tablets at earlier ages, so the attention span has been destroyed before the child arrives at school. Parents read to kids far less today than 20 years ago. I saw a dramatic increase in caregivers ignoring kids at the playground as they stared at phones as smartphone adoption rose from 2008-2012 while the number of apps and their addictiveness exploded, which has a big developmental cost:
Teacher pay in many states has not kept up with inflation, especially housing inflation in cities that grew during the pandemic. The ability to attract talent to underpaid, undertrained teaching jobs hurts schools as teachers struggle to capture and hold the attention of device-addicted kids obviously impacts learning progress.
Brilliant. There's so much to like about this post. First, the subject matter---so important, so timely. Second, the mini-tutorial in how science research works and, third, the very interesting results. Plus, I really appreciate the conclusion---that---before you take away one attention-capturing device you need to think carefully about what replaces it. Believe it or not, I almost never use a smart phone---yes, it IS possible---but I am hardly immune. I sit at this computer and read and type and read and type almost every day. It's always good to be reminded of our capacity for addiction.
When I was in 6th grade, long ago, there was a hood named Willie Pfingston in 8th grade who sauntered down the hall--Willie never walked, only sauntered--with his jeans low on his hips and his shirt tail out. In those days, pullover shirts were not allowed, and students only wore button down shirts. The school administration admonished boys not to unbutton more than the top button on their shirts, so Willie cut the buttons off of all of his shirts. It became a thing for the boys to roll their shirt sleeves up halfway on their forearms, and the administration ordered an end to rolling up of shirt sleeves--/so Willie cut off his shirt sleeves to the level he deemed appropriate. He never spoke loudly, and he never behaved or spoke in a disrespectful manner. When I was in 7th grade, there was a hood named Willie Pfingston still in 8th grade who sauntered down the hall. Is that year, although he was not yet old enough for a driver's license, Willie bought a car ... being Willie Pfingston, he drove it to school. He's the only kid I ever knew who drove to grade school. 35 years later, I thought of Willie Pfingston and wondered whether he was in prison or dead; I could not imagine any other outcome for that rebel, that outcast, that renegade. So I determined to find out. Willie never went to high school; he completed 8th grade and when the autumn rolled around he just didn't go. When he was 19, he married his 15 year old girlfriend. When I found and met him, he and Linda had been married for 30 years, had a bunch of children, owned their own house out in the country--which she told me they had bought in order to be away from the problems of the city--and Willie had been employed for a long time as a highly trained expert, operating computer-connected lathes in high-tech manufacturing facilities. And linda told me, "Willie & school just didn't much get along." So, I don't know about attention, or pouches, or how to figure out what's best for middle schoolers. But I long ago learned some things Willie Pfingston taught me 6th and 7th grades: it is possible to assert one's self without being disruptive, it is possible to successfully resist unreasonable authority, and it is possible to make one's way in an unorthodox manner that suits oneself.
You've made great points Justin. In regards to taking something away and what you should replace it with. When I was at school many moons ago. Cell phones hadn't been invented and the only land phone within blocks was the telephone box on some corners of some streets. Also in one street I lived on was a doctors residence so they had a phone. Not many private phones existed. The lack of subject matter within the first year is easily explained. It's an addiction. When I go to bed I mute my phone. If I'm going to be talking with someone for over an hour or so I turn it off. As I say I never had to fight an addiction though. It's also good that they continued the ban for over a year. The addiction phase has passed. So, the fact that many kids grades didn't improve could just mean that the teacher wasn't compelling enough for them to absorb their lessons. Not you of course because if a teacher is excited about a subject they can infect the students. Most of the schools I went to were strict. If you messed around you got punished. A caning generally. I'm not saying bring back corporal punishment but having to write your transgression on the board over a hundred times did work for us. I fortunately was a quiet to normal kid. Which was because when at home we talked to each other. A lot. So many children don't talk with their parents. They don't always eat together at the table or even eat the same food. Some have grown up with a tray on their knee whilst watching a TV show. So again they are avoiding conversation. As I walk through the park I see teens sitting together on a bench not talking to each other, they are doing things on their phone. So even when they're "hanging out" they are still not engaging with the real world of humans. Instant gratification is what they are growing up with. As to adults. Who knows why they have to check their phones every minute of the day!!!
Never had any kids so I will elect to skip those lectures.
As the poster child of latch-key children and all the misdeeds, misadventures and misdemeanors that comes with the position...who am I to tell little people what to do?
Fascinating study, Justin, and great presentation. As a former medical researcher myself, TY.
My twins are about to graduate from high school. At some of the best-funded public schools in two different states, Common Core "standards" (a standard is something that is slightly different in every state and is tweaked constantly, right?) without quality texts has resulted in trashing excellent textbooks and replacing them with school issued devices like iPads and Chromebooks, which are still distracting, and teachers scrambling to find their own materials. Those materials are usually one-size-fits-all without the highlighted key concepts, full text of standard requirements and enrichments sections for gifted kids that good texts used to have.
Parents who are addicted to phones--kids do what we do, not what we say--give kids phones and tablets at earlier ages, so the attention span has been destroyed before the child arrives at school. Parents read to kids far less today than 20 years ago. I saw a dramatic increase in caregivers ignoring kids at the playground as they stared at phones as smartphone adoption rose from 2008-2012 while the number of apps and their addictiveness exploded, which has a big developmental cost:
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resource-guides/guide-serve-and-return/
Teacher pay in many states has not kept up with inflation, especially housing inflation in cities that grew during the pandemic. The ability to attract talent to underpaid, undertrained teaching jobs hurts schools as teachers struggle to capture and hold the attention of device-addicted kids obviously impacts learning progress.
Finally, since our school implemented phone pouches, many students bring in old phones and put those in the pouch while keeping their phones. It's a good first step, but we really need to educate parents more about the importance of EI/EQ to career success https://danielgolemanemotionalintelligence.com/ and that child-directed social play, not pushing math into pre-K, is the key to success https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/How-Early-Experiences-Shape-the-Development-of-Executive-Function.pdf
"Children’s social play is believed to be an
important practice ground for the development
of executive function skills. Partly, this is be-
cause children need to test for themselves the
skills that adults have been scaffolding for them.
For example, they have to come up with the plan
for playing house, communicate with each other
about role assignments and then remember that
Susie will be the bossy older sister, Ralph will
play the dog, and Jackie will be the baby"
Taking the phones away during class now is likely to help, but it won't undo years of bad habits formed around phone addiction.
Great stuff, Justin! Thanks for sharing!