We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of teen mental illness on record…
— from AfterBabel.com, February 2023.
Yesterday in Part Six, I mentioned one of the key reasons why America funds public education, and it has very little to do with reading, writing, or math. We want our kids to be cared for, and kept safe, during the hours when their parents are working their jobs and keeping the local economic wheels turning.
I also mentioned a presentation by a group of eighth grade girls, at the May 13 Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education meeting, where they told the Board about their efforts to raise money for the installation of ‘vape detectors’ in the Pagosa Springs Middle School bathrooms, to help discourage vaping by their classmates. Vaping is not allowed in the school, but Assistant Principal Janae Ash clarified that it’s been challenging for the school staff to catch students who break that rule. She also noted that students are taught about the dangers of vaping in their health classes.
Knowing that our children spend a large part of their lives in school, we understand that schools have a responsibility to keep them safe.
But safety is only part of the goal.
Psychologists know that ‘play’ is an essential part of a healthy childhood. And healthy play involves taking risks.
Historically, healthy play has involved social interactions in sometimes risky outdoor environments. Climbing trees. Jumping from high places. Skateboarding. Swimming. Exploring situations.
One danger facing students in 2025 — according to substantial research — is cell phone use. This activity seems to pose a very different kind of risk: social isolation.
The ASD leadership has been working on a policy that might address the dangers inherent in cell phone use, at least while students are at school. Some of the research driving this proposed policy comes from the 2024 book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation. According to Haidt’s book, the incidence of anxiety and depression among school children and college students showed a dramatic increase following the release of the iPhone and other smartphones, and the simultaneous development of social media platforms that market to young people. Some studies show that cases of clinical anxiety and depression among Gen Z — young people born between 1995 and 2010 — has more than doubled since 2010.
Let’s say that again. “More than doubled.”
There has been no similar increase in anxiety among Baby Boomers. The incidence among Millennials has also shown an increase, but not one as dramatic as among Gen Z.
The increase has been especially dramatic among adolescent girls.
Here’s a graph from Mr. Haidt’s book:
The dramatic increase in self-harm among adolescent girls reflects similar increases in self-reported anxiety and depression among girls — as well as the increased use of social media. Increased screen use among boys has involved video gaming rather than social media use, and the evidence of increased anxiety is less among boys.
For girls, the harm appears to be greater, the more hours a girl spends daily on social media:
Presumably, not all parents are aware of this research. But if school leaders are aware, do they have a responsibility to keep children safe?
Here’s Superintendent Rick Holt, addressing the ASD School Board on May 13. He had provided two versions of a proposed cell phone policy to the Board:
“Is this policy getting close to what the Board was imagining we would do, in terms of cell phone use in schools? And just because the public isn’t reading that, I will say, that it currently reads that cell phones are to be turned off and put away in a backpack, and not on a student’s person, during the entirety of the instructional day. And that would be in all of our buildings.
“There are some other ideas about that, but that is the gist… and that is largely the case at two of our schools — the Elementary and the Middle School — so this would be a more significant change at San Juan Mountain School and at the High School.”
Pagosa Peak Open School is a semi-independent charter school, and currently has a ‘no phone use during the school day’ policy.
Board member Amanda Schick asked about adults in the school buildings.
“Do you have any concerns about this [policy] not addressing the adults in the building? How they’re modeling cell phone use?
“Do we need to have a discussion about that, in terms of ‘Do as I say, not as I do’?”
Mr. Holt:
“I actually have two concerns, regarding that, that I intend to address.
“One concern is, with any policy, this relies on… and I just want to credit the Middle School for this… with relentless consistency. It’s ‘all hands on deck’ following the same set of rules, the same set of guidelines, with no one saying, ‘Well, you’re one of the Board members’ kids, so I’m going to let you get by. Go ahead and grab your cell phone, you’ll be okay.’ I don’t think that’s a real thing. I don’t think any teachers are doing favors for Board members necessarily. But I do think the teachers struggle with having to deliver difficult news…
“And that’s something we’re going to have to talk about, because the first time a teacher says, ‘I’m going to look the other way’, the real harm they’re doing is to the other staff members, who are actively enforcing it. So I plan on talking to all staff about that.
“And the second concern is the one you brought up, which is… yes, we have our cell phones out, often…”
He pointed to his phone, sitting on the desk beside him.
“I have mine sitting here on the table, which is a really bad habit. And I’m responding to things that are going on during the meeting.
“A lot of our teachers use their phones for communicating about recess duty, about when they need extra support. So we have to not give up that tool,.. but also ensure that we don’t have teachers camped at their desks, shopping on Amazon, while students are doing their work…
“I think this would be a fine time, to really launch, and push on the idea that [enforcing a cell-phone-free environment] is not the responsibility of one person, but it’s the responsibility of all…”