Can schools use students’ phone addictions to improve students’ achievement and behaviors?

I have been teaching high school science at a Title I high school since 2011, and distractions on smartphones is a growing problem in my classroom and schools. Smartphones and the many countless apps become part of a student's livelihood, daily needs, and students’ identity. It is also a widespread toxic problem that many teachers like myself are hopeless and helpless to solve in our classes. Many schools tried to ban cell phones or lock up ALL students’ phones to create phone-free schools or classrooms, but both backfired with many more challenging problems. For example, students lock up a fake phone or a phone case. Worst, imagine if there is a shooter on campus, dangerous natural disasters, or another dangerous emergency. What are the possible liabilities for schools and districts?

At the beginning of 2019, a sad tragedy occurred at one of my feeder middle schools. Two middle students sucker-punched a fellow student, who later passed away, right in front of a classroom.?As I watched the online videos of the tragedy repeatedly, I didn’t understand why other students were excited to record it rather than helping the student. When I searched for more school fight videos, I would see the same things. Students cheered, shouted, and recorded the fights. None of the students tried to break the fights. Why? Sad tragedies from cyberbullying, bullying, and school fights are preventable; however, the solution is not to say or feel sorry to the victim’s family when it’s too late.

I spent many hours reading different behavioral and cognitive psychology books in the following months. I also read many articles about the negative impacts of smartphones and their addiction on children’s health and academic performance. From most of the readings, I observed they all share a similar theme of blaming technology for ruining children’s well-being. Some even make excuses for students’ harmful and inappropriate behaviors. Because of students’ adverse socio-economic backgrounds, the students may act up. I also learned many students physically harmed themselves due to cyberbullying and bullying. Yet, many schools attempt to solve the problems with PowerPoint presentations, YouTube videos, or Motivational speakers. Unfortunately, the problems seem to get worse every new school year. I would read more news about students committing suicide or hurting others because they were cyberbullied or bullied.

Through my reading, I also rediscovered the importance of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development, and Skinner’s Operant Conditioning in improving students’ behaviors and achievement.?There are hundreds of combined researches on three psychology theories. However, there is something that is still missing.?I discovered the last piece of the puzzle through my discussion with students about why they would cheat if learning is all about learning and mastery. It turns out that most students cheat because they want to get good grades. However, they want good grades not because it is necessary for college applications. Nope. Not a single student said that.?They all shared a similar answer—their parents look at their grades. Then, I asked my students what their parents did to them so that they would risk cheating.?Do their parents beat them up at home if students don’t have good grades? As a teacher, I want to have a similar power or influence as my students’ parents. Imagine teachers with the parents’ power or influence in schools; teachers can stop “bad” behaviors and increase “good” behaviors.?I keep going back to Skinner’s Operation of Conditioning, asking myself: “Besides grades, what do students want to have that I can give and take away? What is it?” I googled and read many countless answers online. However, the answer is right in front of me--students are addicted to their phones.?

However, I cannot physically give or take away students’ phones every day. Also, there are many possible liabilities of holding on to students’ phones. However, schools that ban smartphones or lock up all students’ phones schoolwide to create “phone-free” schools or classrooms defeat the purpose of empowering teachers and administrators to use students’ phone addictions to improve students’ behaviors. Equally important, I cannot confiscate. Likewise, I cannot lock up a student's phone because I could be liable for it if there is an emergency.

During the next few months, I tried to invent a device that would allow me to take away the students’ phones without confiscating or locking them up. To invent my solution, I bought the sewing machine, hot glue guns, super glue, or any other parts from Amazon. I want to create a device to put students' and schools’ safety first while empowering teachers and other staff to take or give students’ smartphones as needed. However, that is not enough because there are different types, or levels of severity, of inappropriate behaviors. In education, we have a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) program to support students based on different tiers. Different severity of the behaviors would require different levels of intervention and support.?At the same time, the consequences cannot be punitive or public shaming the students. It has to be a positive behavioral intervention system (PBIS ). Schools are not the army or factories. It cannot be all consequences and punishment, and we have to focus on teaching students instead of punishing them. What if I can make negative consequences positive. Is that possible?

Finally, I invented a multi-tiered?Safe Pouch ? with an on-pouch hole and keyless dividing mechanism that does not lock up students’ phones but maximizes openings for students to access and control their phones inside. The Blue Safe Pouch? and Orange Safe Pouch? are the first positive consequences that put schools’ safety first and empower all stakeholders to redefine their?MTSS /PBIS . Using Safe Pouch?, all stakeholders work together to increase students’ achievement while teaching students to use smartphones responsibly and productively.

When we returned to in-person learning after COVID’s distance learning, other teachers and I tested Safe Pouch? and its implementation strategies in our classes. We also observed a massive decrease in D’s and F’s in all classes. Furthermore, we also observed a decrease in classroom management problems. Before, smartphones were the underlying causes of many discipline problems. Now, smartphones have become a tool for teachers to increase students' achievement and improve students’ behaviors. Safe Pouch and students’ phones become part of our impactful solutions when we call parents. For example, I give students extra credit for pouching up their phones. Any students who are in danger of failing are asked to pouch their phones until they pass. If the student refuses, we would call their parents to support the student further. As you can see, Safe Pouch has become the first positive consequence, an oxymoron, that today’s schools can use to empower all teachers and other staff with the power of parents.

There is a saying, “Great power comes with great responsibility.” Smartphones are powerful technology, and our job as educators is to educate students to use smartphones productively and responsibly.