Spending five minutes away from their phones is a milestone for some kids.
Michael Shapiro, a psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, said it’s the first step he suggests to patients he’s worked with who feel guilty or anxious if they don’t immediately respond to a friend’s message. He said the apprehension stems from a need for instant gratification and peer pressure.
He works with children who feel pressure to respond right away and those who expect immediate responses.
Shapiro tells his patients they aren’t bad friends if they aren’t available. He even goes over scenarios: “What if you were in the bathroom? Or what if you were in a movie theater? Or what if your phone battery died? Or what if your parents grounded you and took it away?”
Researchers have tied the long hours spent on screens, particularly using social media, to sleep problems, mood disorders and poor academic performance. Doctors are seeing higher rates of anxiety and depression, and link some problems around self-esteem with the constant exposure to others’ seemingly “perfect” lives.
The research is driving the current wave to limit and change how children use their phones, including in schools. This summer, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order for a “cellphone-free education.” It was billed as a mental health initiative and a way to minimize classroom distractions.
Virginia is one of a handful of states to enact a ban. Others include Florida — which led the states’ movement — Ohio, California, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota and South Carolina, according to Education Week. A few other states have recommendations and incentives to encourage cellphone restrictions.
Virginia’s ban, developed by the Virginia Department of Education and guided by public feedback, is one of the most comprehensive. Divisions must have policies by Jan. 1 that ban phones and other personal communication devices such as smartwatches from “bell-to-bell.” Students can’t use phones during lunch or between classes.
At the elementary level, students can’t use phones. The VDOE is allowing districts to decide limits for middle schools, and high school students can use their phones before or after school.
Some local divisions already have restrictions. Virginia Beach is in its third year of a ban. Officials declined to answer questions from The Virginian-Pilot about its impact. Chesapeake is in its second year. Both originally allowed for some use of phones during breaks, including lunch.
Other divisions, such as Portsmouth, made the policy switch this school year anticipating the new rules. Officials said they did not want to change rules in the middle of the year.
After the first year, several Chesapeake principals said the ban made a difference, creating consistency with rules and making them easier to enforce, and leading children to converse more with peers and teachers instead of retreating to their phones during lulls in instruction. A handful of parents spoke out against it at board meetings when it was first rolled out — some worried about reaching their kids in emergencies. The same concern has come up in local online forums and other states with bans.
According to a survey released by the National Parents Union advocacy group last month, 78% of parents say they want their children to have the devices for emergencies.
During a Newport News School Board meeting last month, a mother said she was concerned about violence and safety after a 17-year-old was shot and killed Sept. 17 less than a half-mile from Heritage High School before the start of school. Crystal Beauvais, who has three children in the division, said none of the security measures used by Newport News schools make her children feel safer.
The cellphone ban, Beauvais said, “takes away the one outlet our children have to the only people who stand behind them, all in the name of their mental health.”
She said she learned of the shooting when her middle school child texted asking about her sister, who attends Heritage. Beauvais and her husband then spent 15 minutes trying to reach the school before calling the police to learn what happened.
The VDOE leaves the possibility for schools to allow cellphones during emergencies. So far, local divisions with bans do not require students to turn in their phones but instruct them to keep them in backpacks, lockers or somewhere off their person. The guidance also stresses the importance of effective communication plans for emergencies and recommends over-communicating with families and increasing the frequency of messages during emergencies.
Despite concerns voiced by some parents, the bans appear to have widespread support.
A recent poll of Virginia voters shows nearly 70% supported a ban, including during lunch and breaks. The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics also supports Youngkin’s executive order. Last year, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry put out a statement about the impact of social media on youth mental health, recommending actions including minimizing exposure to “problematic content” online and encouraging caregivers to restrict where and when children can use their devices.
The main exemption to the new rules at schools is for medical reasons, such as for glucose monitoring and adjusting hearing aids.
Leah Rowland, a pediatrician with CHKD, is the co-chair of the school health committee for the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Rowland helped develop guidance for physicians and school nurses.
“Our schools already do a tremendous job working with families on individual needs for students,” she said. “So many of these are already being addressed by things the schools have established.”
The committee contacted specialists about when students might need their phones. It created and distributed a guide to doctors and school nurses nationwide. The document supports kids who may need exemptions but also reduces unnecessary cellphone use.
Mental health professionals are seeing improvements in patients who have decreased their social media consumption. Shapiro said he has a patient who spends an hour each day riding her bike to replace screen time and has reported improvements in mood. He works with others on even smaller steps, such as waiting five minutes before responding to a text, to help with self-regulation and setting boundaries.
Rachel Stewart, a licensed professional counselor with Thriveworks in Virginia Beach, said it is important to continue good habits at home.
“I think if boundaries are not reinforced at home, the positive outcomes are going to be not as significant,” she said. “This needs to be a community effort.”
Shapiro said that parents should know what their children are looking at online and talk to them about the job of “influencers” and what people’s real lives look like. It’s also important that parents model appropriate use for their children, he said. Shapiro sometimes suggests replacing an hour of screen time with a family activity, such as eating dinner together, going for a walk or enjoying a game night.
“One of the biggest predictors of kids spending a lot of time on screens is how much their parents use their own screens when they’re around their kids.”
Age-related recommendations and other guidelines regarding screen time from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:
•Up to 18 months: No screen time except for videochatting with an adult, such as with out-of-town grandparents
•18-24 months: Limit screen time to educational programming with a caregiver
•Age 2-5 years: Limit non-educational screen time to 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on weekend days
•Ages 6 and older: Encourage healthy habits and limit activities that include screens
•Turn off screens during meals and outings
•Learn about and use parental controls
•Avoid using screens as babysitters or as a way to stop tantrums
•Turn off screens and remove them from bedrooms 30-60 minutes before bedtime.
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