Combatting Dopamine Addiction, and Screens As a Barrier To Learning - Should You Back the Ban on Phones in Schools?

Recent guidance from the government seeks to enforce an outright ban on phones in primary schools, and reinforce the guidance that many secondary schools already insist upon; for phones to remain off and in bags. Whilst this guidance may seem straightforward on the surface, don’t be fooled. There is nuance to the government's school smartphone ban, and it may not be the golden resolution to disinterested, distracted young people that some may think it is. Let’s discuss.

First let’s ask ourselves what an outright ban on phones in primary schools seeks to achieve.

It may be argued that there is absolutely no reason for primary school children to be bringing their phones to school with them. Now, for most, this does indeed stand to be true, and banning them from bringing in their phones eradicates the possibility of phone-related issues. There's a catch, though. Children of primary school age who do bring their phones to school with them, do so as a safety precaution. Many young students in year 6, the latter half of y5, or with older siblings, are allowed to walk to and from school unaccompanied, granted that they live within a certain proximity to their primary school. 

Furthermore, many parents have installed on their children's phones apps such as Life360 to ensure that the child is safe and their location when travelling in and out of school is known. If, then, children bringing their phones to school for this reason are prohibited from doing so, this no longer becomes safe.

So, what other alternatives are there to an outright ban? What about secondary schools?

Instead, to combat this, phones brought in by students who walk to and from school on their own may be put into a designated area such as a box or a safe, ensuring that they are not used within school hours, but available for the commute. “Off and away, in your bag.” I’m sure many of us have heard it. Most secondary schools already ban the usage of phones in school hours - having a “No phone policy”- if the phone is seen, it is taken. 

Everyone young enough to have been in secondary school at a time where phones were available has likely seen a video of a fight, rumours or arguments instigated by usage of social media in schools, and young people playing games in class instead of doing their work, despite insistence that phones are not to be used. Therefore the enforcement of government guidance may give a needed weight to these calls to students to put their phones away. 

Why might phones in schools remain useful or necessary?

However, there are instances where the utilisation of phones is conductive to students’ learning. Platforms such as Kahoot and Blooket, which engage students in a fun, competitive game which recalls their knowledge, make use of mobile devices in instances where computers or chromebooks are not accessible. Furthermore, students may need to check their essential platforms such as google classroom, and fund their canteen account’s. 

These explanations for the use of a phone undoubtedly echo in the minds of everyone with the displeasure of having worked in a secondary school: all secondary school students can admit they’ve used their phones for these reasons in school before. The government's outright ban on the usage of phones, then, may potentially mean that the use of mobile devices in a legitimately productive manner, or as a tool, wouldn’t be permitted.

And what does an outright ban ‘imposed’ on young people tell them?

Young people can understand and distinguish between the usage of their phones for reasons that are permissible, and the usage of their phones for reasons that are not. The phone ban plays on a commonly felt stigmatisation of young people - that we’re “always on our phones.” Unfortunately, we live in a world where standing in a group of peers is considered loitering, and sitting in a library or a park either leads to accusations of causing nuisance, or starts to get boring after the 50th time. 

Bored of that, well, we have to have the money to go somewhere else, which most working class young people simply cannot afford to do often. In light of this severe lack of third spaces, maybe the reasons for why people claim that they see so many young people always on their phones become clearer.

An outright ban on phones isn't the only solution - so, what is? 

Educating young people on why they need to reduce their screen time, and why they should put away their phones during school hours has the potential to be an incredibly effective solution.

Short form content has ravaged our mobile devices, and as a result young people are glued more than ever to social media platforms such as Instagram reels, Youtube shorts, and perhaps the biggest culprit: Tiktok. The truth is that short form content is incredibly profitable for these companies– and that's exactly why Instagram and Youtube have pushed short form videos, it's all about dopamine addiction. 

Scrolling through videos gives you instant gratification. A short, beautiful dopamine hit every time you scroll upon something new. To put it simply, (because I'm no scientist and I'm sure you aren't either) as the dopamine receptors in your brain get used to being used so frequently in short bursts, it becomes even harder to activate these dopamine receptors. Addiction. Literal addiction to social media.

Don’t believe me? See how many times you open social media platforms that host short form content every day, just mindlessly, and catch yourself thinking “what the hell am I doing?”. Addicted to mindless scrolling, you’ll be mindlessly consuming short form advertisements, too. Lots and lots of short form advertisements. Furthermore, the informational overload from dopamine-addicted scrolling overwhelms and tires out young people's brains. 

So you don’t bother to do a long, rewarding task; to pay attention in class, to study. You’re too exhausted, and those things do not provide the brain with the instant and satisfying dopamine hit that comes from opening sweet, sweet instagram reels. So, you keep scrolling, keep seeking a dopamine hit. Do you see it now? 

Young peoples’ minds are being exploited by social media conglomerates seeking to profit as much as they can off the advertisements they feed you, and THAT is why there is a struggle with young people using phones in schools, disinterested with shortened attention spans, and craving a dopamine hit for their fried dopamine receptors. Whether that hit be from scrolling TikTok, the fame they’d receive from sending around a video of a fight, or from simply playing a mobile game in the middle of maths.

Now imagine if all young people knew the science behind screen-related dopamine addiction and the malicious intentions behind social media companies, I really do think they’d be as angry and as frustrated as us. Banning phones in schools does not tackle the root of this problem, educating young people to understand it, and fight back against it, does. 

So, is a ban on phones effective at preventing young people from getting distracted from their learning and causing harm to others, or is it performative, neglecting to tackle the real issue?