A few states in Australia have outright banned phones in schools. I have a few teacher friends. I’ve heard the students still aren’t interested in learning…
(Jokes aside I think it’s going great for the kids and the teachers in aus)
I was very introverted throught my childhood and spent my first school years' recesses not talking to anyone, just mindlessly wandering the hallways and yard. It got to a point where I didn't even know many of my classmate's names, even after spending years "with them".
When I grew old enough to have my own phone that I could bring to school, it made recesses more bearable. It didn't sabotage or disincentivize any social interactions, because before that moment I had almost none with peers. Looking back on it, I didn't "lose out" on socialization because of phone use, as I simply didn't have any beforehand.
My school day was from 8AM to 4PM, lunch at 1, post-lunch recess at 1:30. Recesses lasted 30 minutes, with usually 4 per day.
Years of having approximately 2 hours of alone-with-my-thoughts time (as a child to preteen, not an adult), every weekday. Not fun, and to this day I don't feel like it has given me any mental benefit.
I consider myself quite lucky when reading Americans' complaints about their schools and recesses, with sentences such as "bring back recess!". I shudder to think of what goes on in some districts compared to what I had, which was overall quite sufficient and well spaced-out.
The real problem was just me. Or, if I had to put the blame on someone else, it was my parents and the school authorities which didn't really help much. Not out of bad faith or anything, just of simple ignorance or unwillingness to think of it as important enough to warrant the help I actually needed.
And to the other OC's point: not all phone use is bad. Not all "scrolling" is bad. I was quite internet-literate for my age at that time, in which, by the way, the internet wasn't the algorithmic ML doom-driven nightmare it can sometimes be today.
And about me, it wasn't just solitude. It was also nothingness. There was a computer room but it was just used for IT class and locked when not in use for that purpose. There was no library, no board games. (Not that I would have played any if they were, as I had no one to play with)
Yes. The default state appears to be primary (maybe even sole) interaction via phone. That's not to say that they're not showing each other stuff, but it's phone-to-phone - as in, sending each other social media messages, not passing a physical device back and forth.
I'm not quite so exercised about it as most people seem to be - the historically universal assumption about "the youth" is that everything they do differently is terrible, which has not typically turned out to be the case. As a (former, for now) teacher, however, the distraction-potential for / from phones is extreme. That goes for in-class, out-of-class, at-home, everywhere. I'm in favor of banning them entirely in schools, and (as a parent, who's still a few years away from facing it with my kid) limiting access at home.
Personal anecdote: my time teaching middle-school kids coincided with the brief pre-smartphone era in which they taught themselves to T9 with perfect fluency, without looking at the screen. The first few times I saw that I was so flabbergasted I couldn't even get mad. I don't know the exact age-range of that group, but it was a very precise demographic slice. I still tip my cap to those of you who learned that trick.
20 years ago when i was at school phones had to be turned off at the gate and not turned back on until you left, a 3310's text message ringtone meant someone was getting suspended. Some small exceptions were made... If you stayed late for sports practise you could turn them on outside the locker rooms to call for a lift ect...
From what i understand from my nieces / nephews the rule is still in place at the same school.