School has gotten off to an amazing start, and we are excited about the potential of our community. As we know, there is much discussion of the negative aspects of social media and constant access to phones that affect both children and adults. We have always tried to counter those effects with Hyde's shared principles and stress on shared human experiences. I have discussed Jonathan Haidt's book, "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewriting of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic in Mental Illness with the faculty and outlined some of the key points. These include
- The rise in anxiety and depression due to social media
- Student lives that are more "phone-based" than "play-based"
- The extra emotional toll of social media on young women
- A lack of real-world independent experiences to counter these effects
Last year, we tried several experiments where we put the phones away for periods during the day and assessed our reactions. While we know that we must help our students take hold of the positive aspects of their technology, we also know that we must do more to help them, and all of us, pass time away from devices and screens.
This year, we are asking students to keep their cell phones in their rooms during each academic day. The goal is to fully focus on learning and making connections with each other. Once they are finished with their last academic class or meeting, they will be able to reconnect with their tech.
We also decided as a community not to take the phones, lock them up, or get into a battle with students over this. Everyone has committed to giving this an extended trial period, and we will continue to assess and discuss it as a community.
We are also asking faculty to use their cell phones only if necessary during this part of the day. Of course, a student can use a faculty phone if there is an emergency and they cannot get to their dorm room to use their own phone.
We thank our parents for their support and thank the students who are willing to tackle this important topic. We are excited to fully embrace the learning and connection opportunities that will come as a result of putting our phones away as we reach for excellence!
Onward! LDG