Fairplay, Phone-Free Schools Movement announce partnership, tools to help remove phones in schools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 17, 2024

Contact:

Ashwin Verghese
717 676 8584
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MEDIA ADVISORY

Fairplay, Phone-Free Schools Movement announce partnership, tools to help remove phones in schools

Fairplay and the Phone-Free Schools Movement (“PFSM”) today announced a partnership aimed at helping K-12 students excel academically and socially by eliminating the harms and pressures caused by phones in schools.

The collaboration between Fairplay, the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and PFSM, the leaders of a growing movement to remove phones from the school day, is kicking off with the release today of the Phone-Free Schools Administrator Toolkit. This free toolkit is a comprehensive guide to help administrators transition to a phone-free environment for the entire school day. 

Over the coming months, other offerings will emerge from the partnership, including a toolkit for “ambassadors” — community members who advocate for phone-free schools — and campaigns to aid educators and policymakers in making the change families are clamoring for.

The growing movement for phone-free schools has found that schools can reclaim the educational environment and eliminate the distractions and harms of phones in school, and educators and families are cheering the results.

PFSM Co-founder Sabine Polak said: “Smartphones are negatively impacting school communities as a whole and can no longer be considered an individual problem. A collective effort to restore healthy educational environments by restricting phone access for all students is essential. The detrimental effects of excessive smartphone and social media use on our youth are clear, and immediate action is necessary. Implementing bell-to-bell phone-free policies in our schools is the most effective and impactful step we can take to safeguard the well-being and future of our students”

Fairplay Campaigns Director David Monahan said: “This is an important partnership at an important time. By collaborating with the Phone-Free Schools Movement, Fairplay is responding to the growing call from teachers, school leaders, parents and kids themselves to remove phones from the school environment. This partnership truly has the potential to end the harmful impact of phone use in schools and improve the educational experience for millions of children around the country. We look forward to getting started on this journey.”

Laura Marquez-Garrett, attorney at the Social Media Victims Law Center, said:  “Schools are supposed to be a safe place. Big Tech companies and social media platforms changed that, to the detriment of children and families. By adopting a phone-free policy, schools can start putting the focus back where it belongs: on education, wellbeing, and best interests.”

Jonathan Haidt, Social Psychologist and Author of “The Anxious Generation,” said: “The school environment is critical to the developmental needs of students. Implementing all-day phone-free policies allows schools to foster academic excellence, support social-emotional learning, and enhance overall student well-being. This comprehensive toolkit simplifies the process, providing schools with the resources and guidance needed to successfully adopt and enforce these policies, ensuring a more focused and enriching educational environment for all students.”

Dangers of phones in schools

The partnership between Fairplay and PFSM comes at a time of growing awareness of the distractions and harms that phones create in schools.

  • 97% of students use phones during school.
  • 72% of high school teachers report that cell phones are a major distraction in the classroom.
  • Phone use is harming students’ mental and physical health, too. Depression and anxiety rates have skyrocketed, and more than 40% of students with the highest social media use rate their overall mental health as poor or very poor.
  • Adolescents who experienced cyberbullying were more than 4 times as likely to report thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts as those who didn’t.
  • On the flip side, students not using their phones during class wrote down 62% more information, and 83% of teachers say they support an all-day phone-free school policy.

Kacy Walker, a middle school teacher in Shawnee Mission, Kan., said: “Phones are a constant issue in middle school, students are distracted from learning. There is little if any engagement with others when phone use is authorized. Phones are used for bullying and a crutch for disengagement by students. I challenge anyone to spend several hours in a school that allows cell phone use. I am certain they will see very few benefits of allowing our youth to pour into cell phone addiction in what is supposed to be a learning environment.”

Administrator Toolkit

The collaboration between Fairplay and PFSM is kicking off with the release of the Phone-Free Schools Administrator Toolkit. This one-of-a-kind, comprehensive toolkit includes an implementation guide along with a rollout timeline and model policy designed to help administrators engage all stakeholders, minimize pushback, and facilitate a smooth transition to a phone-free school environment.

Sign up here to receive the Phone-Free Schools Administrator Toolkit. 

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Fairplay is the leading nonprofit organization committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay works to enhance children’s wellbeing by eliminating the exploitative and harmful business practices of marketers and Big Tech. Learn more at https://fairplayforkids.org/.

The Phone-Free Schools Movement is a collaborative movement by parents, educators, administrators, and students to support and implement effective all-day phone-free policies for K-12 schools. PFSM aims to provide youth the freedom to excel academically and develop socially without the pressures and harms of phones and social media during the school day. Learn more at www.phonefreeschoolsmovement.org.