Weekly Message from Head of School 2023/3/12-2024/3/23
Dear Keystone Community,
Are you reading this on your phone? Do you have a phone? What’s your relationship to your phone? How do you feel when your phone isn’t with you?
The rapid advancement of technology has resulted in a massive experiment with the world’s young people (actually, all people) with the most ubiquitous of technologies that we must pay attention to as educators being mobile phones.
As someone who fancies herself an early adopter of technologies, and a researcher on student learning in technologically rich environments, I have always had complicated feelings around prohibition of tech for young people. “Let them play!” I say, “Let them explore and learn!” That was me in the early days of smart phones and tablets. In 2007 I was advocating for iPod’s for all our language learners and was obsessed about the app rich environment that Apple’s products were about to put into the world’s hands when they released the first iPhone. But in the years after my daughter was born in 2008, I was terrified to see what happened to her smiling inquisitive face when she got a hold of a smart phone or a tablet, she went from an active healthy kid who couldn’t sit still or stop asking questions and exploring to a zombie. And it scared me how convenient it was to have an “off” button for her natural movement—I could just hand her a smart phone and get anything I needed to get done, done.
Without any of the research we have the benefit of now, I knew we were in trouble, even back in 2008. I delayed getting my child her own phone as long as I possibly could, until she was the “last child on the planet” to get a phone. This was according to the detailed ppt she created and presented to me and my husband one evening after dinner. And when she did get a phone in the end of 7th grade (maybe too early still) we had it so locked down that she didn’t have access to anything but the voice call part of the phone for more than fifteen minutes (weekdays) to an hour (on the weekends) a day. We left it that way until she got into 9th grade, when we started to soften the restrictions as she learned more about her own ability to self-regulate.
Every family must do what they know is right for their kids, but we all must pay attention to the mounting body of research about the deleterious effects of screentime. Whatever short-term gain we think we get from giving small children a screen to gain some of our own free time, we must consider the long-term risks.
Research on the risks of cell phone use for young people highlights many serious concerns. Excessive smartphone use among teenagers has been associated with negative impacts on mental health, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. Prolonged and frequent use of mobile devices has been linked to decreased physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors, leading to potential health issues such as obesity and musculoskeletal problems. Importantly, excessive screen time and smartphone addiction have been found to adversely affect academic performance, cognitive abilities, and social interactions.
Last Sunday evening we welcomed the parents of our 8th grade students to our residential building for an evening of learning about our boarding program. At Keystone our residential program begins in 9th grade and is an essential and wonderful experience for all our 9th through 12th grade students. The Deans of Residential Life, along with parent and student volunteers shared details about the boarding program and answered questions for the parents anticipating the boarding experience for their children in the years to come.
Keystone’s boarding program is extraordinary! The facilities are exceptional, and the program creates opportunities for them to practice the important skills of being in a shared community together that will serve in their years here, at university and beyond. And the most valuable part of the program is the many faculty—and their families-- who choose the life of living in a boarding community to enhance the educational journey of young people. Some parents were surprised to learn that at Keystone, the dorm staff are all teachers—the same teachers that work with the students in the secondary school classes throughout the day are the teachers who are working and living with them in the dorms in the evenings. This system of professional care ensures that students are known as students and people, creating the highest likelihood of tremendous personal and academic growth.
There are norms in our residential program with are designed to ensure the health and safety of our students. These include around-the-clock medical care, counselors on-call and world-class athletic and fitness facilities available to them. In addition, we have very clear guidelines, that soften as the students get older, about the use of technology.
Since our curriculum demands connection to devices (specifically school-issued laptops), we need systems for moderating tech use out of the learning context. And we know that kids’ social lives do have a critical online component. We are not about prohibition; we are about health and moderation.
Here are some things we do at school and our boarding program that you all families should consider norms in our homes:
1.Phones are not allowed during the academic day.
2.On the dorm floors in the evenings, student devices are placed in a locked charging cart which opens at six in the morning, ensuring a good night’s sleep. Humans (grownups too!) do not sleep with their phones in their rooms (unless you are on-call, but even in fire stations, they don’t sleep with phones by their beds!)
3.Mealtimes are device-free. In our residential community, nobody, not even guests, can use electronic devices in the dining halls. Anytime we are looking at a screen, we miss the opportunity to connect with the people around us. We enforce this vigorously in service of our community health.
It would be wonderful if these norms extended to all our students’ homes! What other guidelines do you have in your home? Would this topic be of further interest and discussion for parents, or students (in addition to our rich in-school curriculum)? Let me know what you think and how you manage this important topic in your life!
Warmly,
Emily
Resources: Common Sense Media
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/featured-content/files/common_sense_family_media_agreement.pdf https://www.commonsensemedia.org/articles
