Teens can't get off their phones. Here's what some schools are doing about it

By

Claire Murashima

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Teachers Emily Brisse, Mitchell Rutherford and Abbey Osborn have competed with smartphones for students' attention.

Emily Brisse, Mitchell Rutherford and Abbey Osborn/Compiled by NPR

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Last October, Claire Pauley and her husband Mitchell Rutherford learned they were expecting their first child. However, Rutherford kept forgetting about his wife's pregnancy. There was something else on his mind.

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"I mean, when I went to school, I would forget that we were pregnant and I would come home and I wouldn't remember until my wife would say something about it," Rutherford said. "I'd come home and just collapse on the floor. I was suicidal at times."

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He was a high school biology teacher in Tucson, Ariz. and his students' near-constant smartphone use was taking a toll on his well-being. So when summer rolled around after his eleventh year in the classroom — he quit.

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"I came to realize that the phone addiction that the students were struggling with was causing severe mental health problems for me, preventing me from being a good husband," Rutherford said.

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Some states are trying to legislate against pervasive phone use in schools. Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana have statewide restrictions — and states like California, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia have policies requiring districts or schools to create policies banning phones, according to findings from EducationWeek.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, Rutherford says his students were significantly more disengaged. He felt like he wasn't making a difference. "Most of the people in the class, they've got their headphones in, they've got their phones on. They're not actually listening," Rutherford said.

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Read the full story here.