I don’t expect too many Christmas cards from the students this year. Not that as a secondary school teacher I get many, but this year….doubtful.
The past month has been an interesting exercise as we consulted the community on their views on mobile phones and the potential for change of approach at Marist. The breadth, depth, and at times sadness of the responses were overwhelming. Having the privilege of reading all the responses, I thought I would share some insights from the consultation.
The responses of the students were eye opening, especially to the question - why don’t you keep your mobile phone in your locker?
Many students reported that they needed the phone to be able to communicate and they couldn’t miss out on the urgency or instant nature of responding to friends, family, and workplaces. They responded that they needed to be able to text friends and make arrangements about where to be for lunch, what to do in a study period, and what the plans are for after school. And sadly, many spoke about the need for urgent communication in the event of an emergency, about, about the terrible things that might happen and they need to be prepared for it.
I must admit I felt sad when I read some of the responses- it showed a level of anxiety at the thought of being disconnected from their phones. There is considerable evidence in the student responses that our students are being conditioned to be connected to their phones at all times, conditioned to be dependent on the device, and conditioned that it is a need. It is important to note that they have grown up knowing nothing else and many can’t envisage other ways to organise, communicate, or live. Many students were more candid in their responses. They liked having their phone to play games, to watch YouTube, and to hotspot to websites outside of the control of the College.
We are told that our children are constantly connected and that the world is at their fingertips. Have we ever really reflected on whether that is a good thing? It is great to have networks to rely on, to have “friends” across the globe, and to be able to reach out to a large number of people. Constant connection though? The tsunami of notifications from these connections that all drive responses and interaction- likes/dislike, hearts, messages, emojis all that play on the esteem, the confidence, and the attention of the students. The environment of constant connection is exhausting for their cognitive capacities as they continually task switch and await the next beep, flash, or vibration. The Australian Government recently passed the law of right to disconnect for workers - ensuring protection for workers to be needing to be connected at all times to their employer. Where is the average teenager’s time to disconnect if we are allowing the devices to constantly drive their behaviour?
One of the more common themes from the parents’ survey was the significant number of responses from parents who have recognised unhealthy behaviours they were witnessing from their own son in terms of his smartphone use. Examples of pornography at young ages, addiction to gaming, and the uncontrollable urge to pick up the device up to ensure they were ready for the next game of clash. There were stories of controls and blocks subverted by their sons, of withdrawn physical communication, and difficulty enforcing boundaries at home. There was genuine surprise from parents about how much use of the device their son had during the school day- messaging friends, notifications from snapchat, and internet use among the items reported.
For parents too, the need to communicate with their son was a strong theme in the responses. Many families have built their lives around the features of the smartphone, with face-timing, group messaging, and even location sharing part of the new normal for how families operate. Many were worried that movement away from a mobile phone will place this complex logistical operation at risk.
I do ask the question though- how much communication is necessary throughout the school day? I recognise the need to communicate changed plans, or updates about travel arrangements, or even information about training that might have shifted- is this the exception rather than the norm? Or have we as parents become too used to the having the ability to communicate instantly with our sons and expect a response throughout the day? This constant connection between parents and students comes at an attentional cost for their learning, and feeds the inability of our boys to disconnect with their phones. It is important to note that we will be asking all boys to turn off their phones during the school day to focus on their learning - as has always been the rule!
And finally, the tension between the rights of families and parents and the rights of the school. This has always been acknowledged as a place of tension in this discussion, and one that is not easily solved. Schools have allowed the personal devices of students into their environment under the guise of improved communication and safety for the benefit of families, often baring the cost in terms of teacher time dealing with the issues they create. The explosion of smartphone ownership has simply overwhelmed all schools without thought and analysis of the impact that the devices are having on the learning environment.
At Marist, the issues with smartphone dependency are simply taking too much of our time for a personal device that doesn’t benefit the College. A conservative estimate is that we have spent over 170 hours this year on the confiscation of mobile phones alone, and that doesn’t include time spent investigating incidents of cyberbullying, sharing of inappropriate material, sexting and sextortion, and other issues involving smartphone misuse. All for a device that has no benefit to us. We respect the right of parents to make choices about their own environment and we hope they offer us the same respect for our decision for our environment.
At the heart of the introduction of the 2026 Mobile Phone policy is a movement away from our boys being constantly contactable, constantly connected, and constantly dependent on their phones. We want them to enjoy their childhood and their schooling, to spend time with their friends before and after school, at recess and at lunch, without the need of technology to connect them. We want them to develop healthier approaches to the device as they grow in age and self-regulation, and begin to control the device not the other way around. We want them to engage with each other as they wait for the bus, not crane their necks and look at a device, or watch over as someone else plays clash of clans against someone in another part of the country. We want them to experience authentic human connection, rather than a virtual one. Surely this is an admirable goal worthy of everyone in our community striving for.
The overwhelming support from our community for the proposal of delaying smartphones for our younger students has provided us with a platform to begin to shape a new digital duty of care for our students in 2026. Each family is different and has different needs, wants, and expectations and we know that the impact of this new policy will be diverse. We recognise the difficulty of the new policy for many parents with boys who already have the device and will no longer be allowed to possess it whilst on Marist grounds and are making the strong commitment to support these families with the implementation. The detailed policy and list of frequently asked questions is currently being developed and will be sent to parents as soon as we can.
Liam Stakelum
Deputy Headmaster
