Minds Over Yonder

Strategy aims to bring student focus back to education

Most people experience the same problem in 2024: there is a task to be done, but instead of washing dishes or reading that dusty book, you end up scrolling through TikTok or Facebook Marketplace. The world of our smartphones can be all-encompassing, and all too distracting. What for adults can be a minor distraction, for children can be a disruption in their education. Waterbury is considering adopting measures to get student’s eyes off their phones and back on the chalkboard.

The ubiquity of smart phones is part of the problem. Children as young as elementary school age have their own personal devices. Teachers report that students are distracted by the phones, text throughout class, and in some cases, even plan meetups during class. Of course, this behavior is not conducive to learning, but just how harmful this behavior is has hardly yet to be studied in depth.

But what little we know is already concerning. A recent UNESCO study suggested that it takes upwards of 20 minutes for students to refocus after becoming distracted by a cell phone. In an era when phones ping at an alarming rate with notifications from social media, email, and text messages, this means that students might not be paying attention in class at all. On the opposite side of this study, “Removing smartphones from schools in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom was found to improve learning outcomes.”

The solution for so many is the Yondr bag; a simple pouch with a magnetic closure. They are often used by artists and comedians who want to cut down cell phone usage during shows. The success of the product is the simplicity of it. Students place them in the pouch in the morning and take them out at the end of the day.

Torrington became the first school system to implement Yondr bags in 2022. After initial protests by students and some parents, the school district has called it a major success. With figures cited in a Republican-American article from March of this year, they stated that cellphones in class have dropped by 95% and distractedness has declined by 80% as measured by teachers, supporting the UNESCO data.

At a time when connection is so critical for students, anything that breaks their learning is a threat to their future. Locking up cell phones was not just highlighted during Governor Lamont’s recent State of the State address, but was one of his biggest applause points. As noted in a separate Republican American article, finding just $40,000 to ensure that Waterbury students pay attention and have a chance to succeed is no small price.