{"id":4744,"date":"2026-09-12T15:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/food4thoughtfoundation.org\/journal\/?p=4744"},"modified":"2026-09-12T15:33:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T10:03:54","slug":"school-needs-places-where-phones-do-not-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food4thoughtfoundation.org\/journal\/school-needs-places-where-phones-do-not-win\/","title":{"rendered":"SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Opinion | Why Some Spaces Should Stay Screen-Free<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A phone can do almost everything.<\/p>\n<p>It can answer a question, photograph homework, translate a sentence, play music, organise a calendar, contact a parent and show you what someone on the other side of the world ate for breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>That is impressive.<\/p>\n<p>It is also exactly why putting the phone down can be so difficult.<\/p>\n<p>The debate about phones in schools is often presented as two extreme choices.<\/p>\n<p>Either phones are dangerous distractions and should disappear completely, or they are essential modern tools and schools should simply accept them.<\/p>\n<p>I think both positions miss something.<\/p>\n<p>Students need to learn how to use technology.<\/p>\n<p>But we also need spaces where technology is not competing for our attention every few seconds.<\/p>\n<p>A library should be one of those spaces.<\/p>\n<p>A discussion circle could be another.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch with friends might occasionally be one too.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because attention changes when a phone is present.<\/p>\n<p>You may be reading a paragraph, but part of your mind knows a notification could arrive.<\/p>\n<p>You may be talking to a friend, but the conversation can be interrupted whenever one screen lights up.<\/p>\n<p>Even when we are not using phones badly, they are constantly offering us somewhere else to be.<\/p>\n<p>That matters in school because learning often requires staying with something that is initially boring, difficult or confusing.<\/p>\n<p>A difficult maths problem does not provide an entertaining new video after eight seconds.<\/p>\n<p>A novel may take twenty pages before its world begins to feel interesting.<\/p>\n<p>A real conversation sometimes contains awkward silences.<\/p>\n<p>Those experiences train patience.<\/p>\n<p>If every moment of discomfort can immediately be replaced with scrolling, we lose opportunities to practise it.<\/p>\n<p>This does not mean phones should be treated as enemies.<\/p>\n<p>Technology can make learning more accessible and creative. Students can research information, record projects, collaborate and use educational tools that previous generations never had.<\/p>\n<p>The goal should therefore not be \u201cno phones anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It should be intentional use.<\/p>\n<p>During a lesson that needs devices, use them.<\/p>\n<p>During an emergency, students should have appropriate ways to communicate.<\/p>\n<p>But when the purpose is deep reading, conversation or concentration, putting phones away should not feel like punishment.<\/p>\n<p>It should feel like creating room.<\/p>\n<p>Room to become absorbed in a book.<\/p>\n<p>Room to notice the person sitting opposite you.<\/p>\n<p>Room to be bored long enough for your own thoughts to appear.<\/p>\n<p>Schools prepare students for the future.<\/p>\n<p>The future will contain even more technology than the present.<\/p>\n<p>That means one of the most valuable skills we can teach may not be how to use another device.<\/p>\n<p>It may be knowing when <strong>not<\/strong> to use one.<\/p>\n<p>The phone is an extraordinary tool.<\/p>\n<p>But tools work best when we decide when to pick them up.<\/p>\n<p>Not when they decide for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN Opinion | Why Some Spaces Should Stay Screen-Free A phone can do almost everything. It can answer a question, photograph homework, translate a sentence, play music, organise a calendar, contact a parent and show you what someone on the other side of the world ate for breakfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[581],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-please-give-us-time-to-read","enable-dropcap","disable-2-columns"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN - Food4Thought Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/food4thoughtfoundation.org\/journal\/school-needs-places-where-phones-do-not-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN - Food4Thought Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SCHOOL NEEDS PLACES WHERE PHONES DO NOT WIN Opinion | Why Some Spaces Should Stay Screen-Free A phone can do almost everything. 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