As metro district enacts plan to limit phones in school, expert talks child mental health crisis

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Right now, at least one local school district is planning to put student cell phones on silent for the school day.

As reported by Channel 2 Action News, the Marietta School Board voted on Tuesday to curb phone use by middle school students.

Phones and smart watches will go in pouches at Marietta Middle School starting in the next school year.

It’s a growing response to what we now know is a mental health crisis affecting kids in America, to the point where U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is now demanding warning labels for social media similar to those seen on cigarette packages and alcoholic beverages.

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Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer talked to a therapist with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta about how phones are distracting and isolating teenagers, and what to do about it.

“Social media and constantly being on smartphones is really keeping kids from being engaged. So they might be right next to their friend, but they’re not even talking to each other. It’s having a significant impact on their ability to be connected. And so, we’re going to have to set limits, we know this, they don’t yet have the ability to do it themselves and they need our help,” said Jody Baumstein, a therapist at Children’s.

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“What are some of the ways we can work with our children to be a little less dependent on social media throughout the day?” Stouffer asked Baumstein.

“I think coming at it with a sense of empathy, realizing that it’s hard even for us to put it down. So instead of coming at them and acting like It’s you versus them and really approaching it as a whole family,” Baumstein said. “So if that means that mealtimes are screen free, then that means everybody.”

Stouffer said kids are constantly seeing adults picking up and checking their phones.

“We’re constantly grabbing for the phone and using it as a crutch in everyday moments. So we’re standing in line at the grocery store, we’re at the doctor’s office, and we’re on our phone scrolling, they’re going to learn to do the same,” Baumstein said.

Baumstein said that it’s OK to silence your child’s phone and let them be a little bored this summer.

“Please be bored. There are a lot of benefits to being bored. We know that it allows kids to be creative and problem solve and learn how to tolerate all kinds of emotions. So encourage boredom and view it as something that’s an opportunity, not something to be scared of,” Baumstein said.

To get more resources on how to handle phones, click here.

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