When smartphones got banned by teachers in the Buxton boarding school in Williamstown, Massachusetts, there was a massive outcry.
Students were not happy with the decision and they yelled and cried protesting it. Then the new rule was implemented and two months later, not everyone wants to go back to using a smartphone.
Not only students, the boarding school’s faculty also didn’t use their phones.
Buxton School has only 57 students. Everyone, including teachers, sit down to eat family-style meals at round tables and chores are also taken care of by all.
But the smartphone problem had caught up. Students remained glued to the screens in classes, at meals and in their rooms, basically cutting themselves off from the real world. Virtual classes during the coronavirus pandemic made matters worse.
The final straw was when a fight was live-streamed from the school. The top administrators and heads of the school decided that enough was enough and banned smartphones on the campus for this Autumn. For students as well as teachers.
Minimalistic 'Light Phones' were handed to everyone that has only limited capacity – calling and texting – and some other features. The monochrome phone doesn’t have social media, camera or the internet.
Most students, who didn’t expect things to take such a turn, have taken a liking to having a minimal phone.
A teen student, Bea Sas, told The Wall Street Journal that she is happy about not getting bombarded with texts or notifications when she wants to go out on strolls or study.
For teachers, too, the ban was a success. Not only are they now not distracted by minor notifications, the teachers say the students are concentrating more in class.
Through the year, the school is surveying the smartphone ban. The response has been positive so far for the social experiment. The students don’t think it was as bad as they thought it would be.
While this is a temporary measure, it remains to be seen if the ban would have enough impact on the teens to be more conscious about how they use their smartphones when they go back home or to college.
The issue remains debatable whether smartphones, in the current generation, are imperative even with the negatives it entails.
