Gilmer County is ahead of the curve on a new law banning phone use during school for children kindergarten to eighth grade.
Gilmer County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said the law is a welcome addition to school rules already in place.
After 20 years in school administration, Ridley has seen how phones change children.
“Twenty years ago, kids were better at having conversations with each other, and they were better at having conversations with adults,” he said.
Online communication has made most people worse at talking face to face, he said.
In a school setting, electronic devices can be distracting for young children.
“Kids were always looking at them, trying to use them, communicating with each other during the day,” Ridley said.
It’s for reasons like these that Gilmer County banned phone use during school for students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
“[We are] continuing to focus on distraction-free instructional zones and ensuring that our kids are learning those soft skills that will help them to get and retain employment,” Ridley said.
The system found a solution with a ban on phone use during school hours. Now, the state of Georgia has done the same.
Although the Georgia law has been referred to as a “phone ban,” it doesn’t ban students from having phones in school.
Instead, it bans students from using personal electronic devices during the school day.
Phones must have “appropriate methods” for storage at school, the law reads.
The law provides potential exceptions for off-site school events, medical conditions and learning disability plans.
Students who violate these policies can be punished by the school.
If parents want to contact their child during the school day, they should contact the school directly, according to the law.
Ridley said these rules don’t cover the full negative impact of phones on children.
Once young students have phones, they struggle to leave the groups they’re in at school, he said.
“Maybe you don’t ever get an opportunity to make various friends because you’re always in the same friend group,” he said. “Maybe you don’t ever truly get away from your bully because they’re always on social media harassing you.”
For vulnerable students, this fact means bullying can become a problem.
It can also be harder for students to develop an identity apart from peers when they are always with them.
And a constant tie to one friend group sometimes makes it difficult for students to meet new friends in different settings, Ridley said.
“In some schools, [technology] can be a source of cyberbullying issues, fights, theft and that kind of thing,” he said.
Even if the state law doesn’t address all the social and learning impacts of phones, it’s a good start, he said.
As counties see how phones affect child development, they can go further in passing laws on child tech use, he said. It’s best to make these decisions on a local level, he added.
“I think we may need more,” Ridley said.