Phones have taken over. At lunch, people stare at their phones rather than socialize with their friends. You may have noticed cars nearly hitting students crossing Centre Street—if you weren’t looking down at your phone, that is. Students make plans and chat with friends online even when they are mere feet away. Let’s change our culture and take back Milton! I urge school administrators to make Milton a phone-free campus during the academic day.
Even though we don’t want to hear it, we all know that the superficial brightness of screens holds a profound darkness beneath. Research shows that too much screen time and multitasking with social media decreases both executive functioning and academic performance. Even further, technology usage decreases the quality of our sleep. According to a 2023 Pew Research study, 38% of teens realize that screen time damages their health and mental well-being; conversely, 72% of teens felt peaceful without their phones.
Despite our awareness of these dangers, however, we often don’t change our own behavior. “I think that phones prevent social interactions on some occasions,” Gideon Weiss ‘28 reflected, “but are also a tool for bonding and organizing someone’s intellectual life, so I think that it is a net positive.” Just like we know we shouldn’t buy candy in the bookstore yet still find a reason to, we continue to cluster around our phones. Upper School Principal Rachel Stone recalls, “I have…had students comment to me that, while the idea of no cellphones during the day feels unsettling to them, they actually think it would be a ‘relief’ to take a break from constantly checking social media, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.”
The school can help us with specific bans regarding technology. In 2024, the Taft School in Connecticut implemented a no-phone policy during the academic day, which has led to tremendously positive change and more social interactions on campus. According to Alex Werrell, an English teacher at Taft, “students complained at first, but I only had to confiscate five [phones]. But it is amazing! Students pay attention and kids talk at lunch. It’s like breaking out of a chain that I didn’t know was restraining all of us.” Considering the results, it’s no surprise that Andover followed suit this school year. According to AP News, as of August 2025, 35 states now have rules banning cellphone use during the school day in public schools, reflecting a broader policy shift in education. Massachusetts bill S.2561, passed in summer 2025, follows this trend by requiring all public school districts in the state to be cellphone-free by fall 2026.
According to the AP, qualitative data has shown positive effects inside and outside the classroom from these new policies. While there isn't enough data at this point to fully understand the impacts on mental health, Milton shouldn’t wait for the longitudinal studies and miss out on our experience today.
The current school policy states: “use of cell phones is permitted in classrooms only with the explicit approval of the teacher. Use of cellphones and digital music/media players (e.g. iPods) is prohibited during assemblies, performances, Chapel and other gatherings.” While this handbook policy, and some teachers, control cellphones in the academic setting, the school day doesn't just exist in the classroom. So much socializing, learning, and fun happens outside of the classroom: at lunch, crossing Centre Street, and in the Stu. These are the exact locations and moments that the handbook does not cover. The handbook outlines our responsibilities to each other as students—inside and out of the classroom—and the cellphone policy should have the same jurisdiction.
It is understandable that our policy has not kept up with the usage of phones. Phones have become ubiquitous rapidly, and the ways we use them constantly evolve. It’s also understandable that we want to keep the status quo. We have become reliant on easily reaching our parents in the middle of the day when plans change. Phones also offer easy storage for our student IDs and our debit cards, replacing the cash based systems of old. The miraculous devices can also manage schedules and provide critical communication during any possible emergencies on campus. However, these rationalizations don’t prevent the policy’s evolution. While I understand, and appreciate from Stone that the school is exploring what “a transition to less (or no) cellphone use during the day could ‘look like,’ how to foster buy-in from students, and what other independent/boarding schools have found to be successful frameworks,” I urge the school to act more swiftly. We don’t need buy-in here, we need action.