Support for school phone ban

The Heraald reports:

NYU Stern Professor of Marketing Scott Galloway practices what he preaches. The prolific podcaster and Algebra of Wealth author has founded a string of tech, branding and education start-ups, which have pushed his estimated wealth to over $100 million. The Herald asked him for his verdict on New Zealand’s mobile phones-in-schools ban.

The ban kicked in this week and covers breaks and class time, as per National’s campaign pledge.

Will it be good for students?

“There are probably some apps and some tech that they won’t be as apt at,” Galloway said.

“But on balance, I think it’s a fantastic idea. New Zealand gets it right again.” (The academic and entrepreneur was also a fan of NZ’s move to ban most semi-automatic weapons after the Christchurch Mosque massacres.)

“I’m friends with and colleagues with Jonathan Haidt, who catalysed this global movement. It’s inspiring to think that, in academia, we might occasionally get it right and have an impact,” Galloway added.

Haidt – also a professor at New York University – is a social psychologist and author of a seminal 2019 essay called “Get phones out of schools now” – which associated a rise in teen anxiety and depression with the use of mobiles in schools.

“Getting students’ attention was harder because they seemed permanently distracted and congenitally distractible. Drama, conflict, bullying, and scandal played out continually during the school day on platforms to which the staff had no access,” Haidt wrote after talking to teachers and principals.

Many schools wanted bans but feared push-back from helicopter parents.

Galloway said he liked to think his colleague’s work helped to inspire New Zealand’s move.

He added, “It just makes sense. A 13-year-old girl doesn’t need the high school cafeteria following around 24-7. Look at what’s happened to teen depression and suicide. The moment it started escalating it was when social went on mobile.”

Nice to have international support for the move.

While hard evidence was “weak and inconclusive”, anecdotally, schools that implemented the ban before the deadline have reported positive changes in attention and learning. The head girl of Hornby High School in Christchurch said the grounds were now “almost louder during intervals and lunches”.

Her principal said, “I wish we had done the phone ban five years ago.”

And, responding to a Herald article on LinkedIn, Freeview general manager Leon Mead said, “It’s made a difference at Rangi [Rangitoto College – the biggest school in the country]. Last year fields were empty at lunchtime. Now kids are off phones and out having fun.”

Will be really interesting to assess after say 12 months, what impact it has had.