Isabella Pires first noticed what she calls the âgradual apathy pandemicâ in eighth grade. Only a handful of classmates registered for service projects she helped organize at her Massachusetts school. Even fewer actually showed up.
When she got to high school last fall, Isabella found the problem was even worse: a lackluster Spirit Week and classes where students seldom spoke.
In some ways, itâs as if students âjust care less and less about what people think, but also somehow care more,â said Isabella, 14. Some teens, she said, no longer care about appearing disengaged, while others are so afraid of ridicule they keep to themselves. She blames social media and the lingering isolation of the post-COVID era.
Educators say their tried and true lesson plans are no longer enough to keep students engaged at a time of struggling mental health, shortened attention spans, reduced attendance and worsening academic performance. At the crux of these challenges? Addiction to cellphones. Now, adults are trying new strategies to reverse the malaise.
Cellphone bans are gaining traction, but many say theyâre not enough. They argue for alternative stimulation: steering students outdoors or toward extracurriculars to fill time they might otherwise spend alone online. And students need outlets, they say, to speak about taboo topics without fear of being âcancelled â on social media.
âTo get students engaged now, you have to be very, very creative,â said Wilbur Higgins, lead English teacher at Dartmouth High School, where Isabella will be a sophomore this fall.
Lock them up
Cellphone pouches, lockers and bins have grown in popularity to help enforce device bans.
John Nguyen, a chemistry teacher in California, invented a pouch system because he was so distressed by bullying and fights on phones during class, often without adults interfering. Many teachers are afraid to confront students using phones during lessons, Nguyen said, and others have given up trying to stop it.
At Nguyenâs school, students lock their phones in neoprene pouches during classes or even all day. A teacher or principalâs magnetic key unlocks the pouches.
It doesnât matter how dynamic the lesson, said Nguyen, who teaches at Marina Valley High School and now markets the pouches to other schools. âThereâs nothing that can compete with the cellphone.â
Do something (else)
Some schools are locking up smartwatches and wireless headphones, too. But the pouches donât work once the final bell rings.
So in Spokane, Wash., schools are ramping up extracurriculars to compete with phones after hours.
An initiative launching this month, â Engage IRL â â in real life â aims to give every student something to look forward to after the school-day grind, whether itâs a sport, performing arts or a club.
âIsolating in your home every day after school for hours on end on a personal device has become normalized,â Superintendent Adam Swinyard said.
Students can create clubs around interests like board games and knitting or partake in neighborhood basketball leagues. Teachers will help students make a plan to get involved during back-to-school conferences, the district says.
âFrom 3 to 5:30 you are in a club, youâre in a sport, youâre at an activity,â instead of on a phone, Swinyard said. (The district has a new ban on phones during class, but will allow them after school.)
At a time of high absenteeism, he also hopes the activities will be the extra push some students need to attend school. In a Gallup poll conducted last November, only 48 per cent of middle or high school students said they felt motivated to go to school, and only 52 per cent felt they did something interesting every day. The poll was funded by the Walton Family Foundation, which also supports environmental journalism at AP.
Vivian Mead, a rising senior in Spokane, said having more after-school activities helps but wonât work for everyone. âThereâs definitely still some people who just want to be alone, listen to their music, do their own thing, or, like, be on their phone,â said Vivian, 17.
Her 15-year-old sister, Alexandra, said morning advisory sessions have improved participation in the drama club that keeps the sisters busy. âIt forces everyone, even if they donât want to get involved, to have to try something, and maybe that clicks,â she said.
Get outside
Thirteen middle schools in Maine adopted a similar approach, bringing students outdoors for 35,000 total hours during a chosen week in May.
Itâs empowering for students to connect with each other in nature, away from screens, said Tim Pearson, a physical education and health teacher. His students at Dedham School participated in the statewide âLife Happens Outsideâ challenge.
Teachers adapted their lessons to be taught outdoors, and students bonded in the open air during lunch and recess. At night, about half of Dedhamâs students camped, incentivized by a pizza party. Several students told Pearson they camped out again after the challenge.
âWhether they had phones with them or not, theyâre building fires, theyâre putting up their tents,â Pearson said. âTheyâre doing things outside that obviously are not on social media or texting.â
Plea to parents
Parents must also make changes to their familyâs cellphone culture, some teachers say. At home, Ohio teacher Aaron Taylor bars cellular devices when his own children have friends over.
And when kids are at school, parents shouldnât distract them with check-in texts throughout the day, he said.
âStudents are so tied to their families,â said Taylor, who teaches at Westerville North High School, near Columbus. âThereâs this anxiety of not being able to contact them, rather than appreciating the freedom of being alone for eight hours or with your friends.â
Fight fears of being âcancelledâ
Some say other forces behind teen disengagement are only amplified by the cellphone. The divisive political climate often makes students unwilling to participate in class, when anything they say can rocket around the school in a messaging app.
Taylorâs high school English students tell him they donât talk in class because they donât want to be âcancelled â â a term applied to public figures who are silenced or boycotted after offensive opinions or speech.
âIâm like, âWell, whoâs canceling you? And why would you be canceled? Weâre talking about `The Great Gatsby,ââ not some controversial political topic, he said.
Students âget very, very quietâ when topics such as sexuality, gender or politics come up in novels, said Higgins, the Massachusetts English teacher. âEight years ago, you had hands shooting up all over the place. Nobody wants to be labeled a certain way anymore or to be ridiculed or to be called out for politics.â
So Higgins uses websites such as Parlay that allow students to have online discussions anonymously. The services are expensive, but Higgins believes the class engagement is worth it.
âI can see who they are when theyâre responding to questions and things, but other students canât see,â Higgins said. âThat can be very, very powerful.â
Alarmed at her peers' disengagement, Isabella, Higginsâ student, wrote an opinion piece in her schoolâs newspaper.
âPreventing future generations from joining this same downward cycle is up to us,â she wrote.
A comment on the post highlighted the challenge, and whatâs at stake.
âAll in all,â the commenter wrote, âwhy should we care?â
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