Before I start, let me stress that I am not a doctor, scientist or social worker. I am a high school teacher and parent. I have read a lot but I am by no means an expert. Instead, I am relying on limited scientific knowledge and a bit of common sense.
Earlier today, I read a post by 
His post got me thinking about my students and my fellow teachers. It seems a day does not go by without a fellow teacher complaining that their students are on their phones too much and that the school should do something about it. Some want the phones banned from school. Some want them hung on pouches on the wall as students enter a class. Others want the school to provide lock boxes that cellphones are sealed in for the entire day. I always respond the exact same way. I remind them that they are merely trying to "treat" a symptom rather than the disease. In fact, they aren't really treating anything. They are trying to avoid the symptoms and the disease.
In my layman's opinion, kids are clearly addicted to their phones. Heck, most adults are too. But this is not a conscious choice. Our brains rely on a chemical called Dopamine to reward us for certain behaviors. Dopamine creates feelings of pleasure, excitement, and motivation when you're carrying out activities that should be helpful to your existence. "For example, eating delicious food, listening to music, experiencing physical touch, or receiving praise can all potentially trigger a dopamine release. This chemical signal encourages us to repeat these behaviors, reinforcing the activities that make us feel good." (From calm )
You know what else releases Dopamine? Scrolling on your phone. Texting. Looking at social media. Getting "likes" on a post. Playing a video game.
You know where we can get these things any second of any day? Our phones. So can students.
Teenagers, whose decision making portions of their brains are not fully developed, have access to a Dopamine release any second they want. Like any addiction, eventually thy need more and more. It also seems that getting these boosts on demand lessen the effect of the naturally occurring ones like the boost you get when you get an answer right in class.
So when my fellow teachers complain about phones I ask them, "What are you replacing the Dopamine boots with"? Almost all of them look like I just grew a second head. I go on to say, "Let's just accept as fact that kids are addicted to their phones. We can argue all day if they should be addicted. We argue how society's , parents' or schools' failures have lead to the addiction. But none of that matters. All that matters is that they have an addiction. How easy is it to quit an addiction 'cold turkey'"?
It is incredibly hard to kick an addiction. Most adults who succeed at kicking an addiction use some kind of program or support group. Or they turn to science like nicotine patches or weight loss drugs. And yet all of these adults simply say, "Just take the thing the kid is addicted to and make them quit with no support at all". That does not seem logical to me.
So I go back to me "What are you replacing the Dopamine boost with"? If the answer is "nothing", then I fear that teacher is doomed. Although I am far from perfect and cellphones can still pose an issue in my classes, I try to combat them by providing opportunities for positive Dopamine boosts in my classroom.
Here is a small sample of the "Dopamine Menu" I look at when planning a lesson:
- Gamify lessons as much as possible (escape rooms, puzzles, card games, board games, etc.)
- Use music and let kids move as much as possible
- Have kids do mini turn and talks during a lesson. (Interacting with another human gives a boost)
- Make kids laugh
- Let kids draw or show off another talent during a lesson
- Ask tons of questions that they can actually answer (a sense of being right, releases a boost)
- Provide positive feedback (A teacher telling them they are awesome releases a boost)
- Do mini-mysteries where kids need to actively figure something out instead of just pouring info into their heads.
I am by no means saying this is an easy problem to solve. I still have challenges every day. I am just saying that we need to approach his like any addiction and have some compassion while using proven techniques to support kids as they are fighting their addiction.