A boarding school culturally transformed after banning smartphones

A boarding school in Massachusetts banned smartphones on campus and has started to see positive cultural shifts, The Guardian reported. 

Students and staff at Buxton boarding school were given Light Phones to use instead, which have limited technology capabilities. Light Phones can make calls and send text messages but don’t have cameras and can’t download applications, The Guardian reported. 

Buxton boarding school has tried the experiment for one full school year and noticed students were more engaged and had more face-to-face interactions. There was also a surge of students who signed up for a photography class that uses film cameras.

It was difficult to asses academic progress because Buxton uses a narrative evaluation system, The Guardian reported. Some students also managed to sneak smartphones into the school but, still, according to The Guardian, most agree the school is better off without smartphones. 

The National Center for Education Statistics found more than three-quarters of schools in the United States have restricted non-academic uses of smartphones as of 2020. In 2018, France banned smartphone use in schools.