Rising Phone Separation Anxiety Grips Peoria Public School Students
Since the summer of 2007 when the first iPhone was released, society has been attached at the hip to their smartphones. As hand-held devices became more dependable, phone addiction developed among school-aged students, leading to distractions, especially for those in high school. Peoria Public Schools struggled with these distractions in the classroom as well, so at the end of last school year, Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat and the Peoria Public Schools Board of Education decided that they had had enough. Their solution was to implement Yondr pouches, a hand-sewn lockbox for phones, for the 2024-25 school year. However, no one could foresee the seriousness that phone addiction has had on students as they go from being able to access their phones at any time to going up to seven hours without it.
Originally, the goal of the Yondr pouches was to prevent students from going on their phones during the school day, producing more productivity within the classroom. The Yondr pouch can only be unlocked with a special magnet that can also be purchased from the company. When looking at the Yondr official website, the Yondr’s mission statement is to “alleviate the intrusion of personal technology to create vital, distraction-free experiences that enrich people’s lives.” According to many reviews from principals and teachers, they seem to agree that this mission statement is accurate. Allison Silvestri, a former principal at a Californian high school, made the official statement that “It’s an absolute game-changer. The climate and culture on our campus is so much more energetic and positive.” This statement can be found on the Yondr website. After hearing all the positive feedback from different schools that have implemented this method for classrooms, the hope for Peoria Public Schools was that students would focus on their studies and interact with peers more.
In theory, the Yondr pouches should have been a win-win situation. Although students would not be able to go on social media or text for a large portion of their day, they would be focused during class, which would benefit their learning in the long run. Similarly, the teachers would have more engaged students with increased class participation. This was the hope. However, the reality was that many students suffered from nomophobia when cutting off online presence when it used to be a normal part of their day. Nomophobia, more commonly known as phone separation anxiety, can be caused by little to no phone usage by an individual who is overly attached to their phone. Many students reported feeling almost drug-like withdrawal symptoms such as agitation, nervousness, and feeling isolated. Not having access to their phones until the end of the day felt like a punishment from the school board of Peoria Public Schools, causing some high school students to rebel and pretend to lock their phones or hide them throughout the day. This led to serious consequences when students were found on their phone during school, resulting in a minor or major referral.
Even though the Yondr pouches have increased social interaction in classrooms and kept kids participating, it is hard to ignore the phone anxiety that students seem to carry throughout their school day. In a perfect world, kids and teenagers would be able to cut their phone usage cold turkey, but that does not seem to be the case in our internet-revolved world. Not only have parents started noticing their children’s withdrawal symptoms, but some parents have faced an increase in anxiety themselves as violence in schools has continued to be a problem in this country. Some complain that they feel less attached to their children during the school day and wonder if they’re safe. There is no doubt that the Yondr pouches have had positive impacts on student academics and participation in class, but the adjustment to life without 24/7 access to their phones has been difficult for some.
