On March 26, New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, well-known for The Coddling of the American Mind, released a new book, The Anxious Generation, where he attributes the transition from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood as being responsible for the “epidemic” of Generation Z young people suffering from anxiety, depression and fragility. 

Haidt claims that “a great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness,” because staring at screens all the time is inhibiting children’s normal human development.  Children learn through play. A “play-based” childhood is essential for developing both physical and social skills. Through play, children learn to connect, synchronise and take turns. They enjoy attunement and need enormous quantities of it. Social media, by contrast, is “mostly asynchronous and performative, inhibiting attunement and leaving heavy users starving for social connection.” 

To address this problem, Haidt makes four controversial suggestions:

• No smartphones before high school: give them only flip phones in middle school;
• No social media before age 16;
• Making schools phone-free; and
• Giving kids far more free play and independence, including more and better recess.

Banning phones in school, Haidt says, “is the easiest and fastest step we can take to improve youth mental health.” He calls for such regulation to be enacted for all K–12 schools in the United States for this coming September. Giving all young people “six or seven hours a day away from TikTok and texting” would free up enormous amounts of time for learning from their teachers and developing friendships with other students. 

Fortunately, it will be possible to observe how such a regulation plays out on a national scale, as New Zealand has legislated a phone ban in all schools. While strongly encouraged in Term 1 2024, it will be mandatory from the start of Term 2 (Monday April 29). “Phones Away for the Day” means students

do not use or access their phone while they are attending school unless it is required for learning purposes, health reasons or you have been directed by a teacher or the principal. Phones away for the day includes during lunch time and breaks, and when you are on a school course or visit outside the school grounds.

Schools have some flexibility as to how they will implement the policy,  as to ensure it is workable in their individual contexts. This includes monitoring and enforcing the rules, and penalties that will apply for breaches.

Introduced by the new coalition government formed in November 2023, in part to address falling academic achievement, the regulation has not been without controversy and political debate. 

Although many schools had already implemented such policies, the regulation has not been welcomed wholeheartedly by teachers, students or parents.   The ban on use during breaks was seen as harsh by some, even though Haidt’s work indicates that these times are important for phone-free “play-based” learning. Parents were also concerned that they would not be able to communicate important information to their children, although it was expected that school policies could be developed to address these issues. While teachers welcomed the prospect of increased attention in class, some foresaw being caught in the crossfire when implementing classroom bans, especially in the high school context. Students’ views were also somewhat mixed. Many already thought they were using their phones responsibly and felt that the ban undermined their ability to learn how to engage constructively with new technologies and applications. Unsurprisingly, commercial firms were quick to rise to the challenge, offering physical and technological solutions.  

However, there is concern that the ban would infringe on students’ right to freedom of expression. This is protected in section 14 of New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act. However, the right can be limited if the limitation can be justified. The Ministry of Education has asserted: “In introducing these regulations, the government has considered that the limit on freedom of expression is justified in order to improve student engagement and achievement.”  Hence the ban is legal in New Zealand. 

To date, evidence out of New Zealand is largely anecdotal, but teachers in schools that have adopted the ban early do seem to be noticing students are more engaged in classroom activities. As to whether the ban will lead to better test scores or learning outcomes, it is too soon to tell. And as one principal observed, encouraging children to be “less dependent on the device in their hand, and more dependent on the conversations that they can have with grownups and their peers at school” would need to be reinforced at home and in wider society.  This may be a challenge if the “grownups are also. . .inseparable from their phones.” 

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