Churches Make Youth Events Phone Free, and It’s Working
By Movieguide® Contributor
Across the country, youth-oriented environments, including youth groups and schools, are making it easier for young people to step away from their phones.
Bill Newton, an interim student ministry leader at Immanuel Baptist Church in Arkansas, implemented a system at his church so that students don’t have access to their phones during youth activities.
“We created a ‘cell hotel,’ and it has worked,” he told the Baptist Press. “We don’t super-police it, but it’s been a win.”
The “cell hotel” is similar to parents checking in their child at the nursery. When students drop off their phones, they get a matching tag, and a “phone valet” keeps track of them.
“I knew I had a winner when a junior high mom gave me positive feedback,” Newton said.
Dan Gibson, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Next Gen strategist, implemented his own strategy to keep cell phone use at bay during services and events.
“It comes down to culture, and you want one where students are focused on the Word,” he explained. “Phones are filled with distractions. One moment you’re focused, the next moment a notification completely derails your thoughts.
“When I saw students replacing their print Bible with using an app, I became insistent that we begin using a print version,” he added. “No one wants to be the outlier. Pursuing cultural consistency is going to take some time.”
Another pastor, Mike Fitzgerald, urges parents and adults who work with youth programs to follow their own rules regarding phone use.
“Our adult volunteers go by the rule too, of course,” he said. “It’s important for them, and parents, to be the example. This generation is very sensitive to hypocrisy. If they see us on our phones all the time, they’re going to notice.”
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Classrooms are taking a similar approach to technology.
According to Piedmont Exedra, “teachers at Piedmont High School (PHS) and Millennium High School (MHS) are repurposing hanging shoe pouches as ‘phone hotels’ — temporary holders for cell phones or smartwatches during class time.”
“It’s become the new normal that students arrive in class and drop off their phones,” Debbi Hill, a Piedmont High School English teacher, said.
The “phone hotels” enable teens to focus on learning in the classroom without unnecessary distractions.
“They’re about classroom management and students not having access to their phone at designated times,” Shannon Fierro, Millennium High School principal, said.
“I think that the clearer and the more regulated the policy around cell phone use in the classroom, the higher level of student participation and engagement,” Fierro continued. “[Phones are] a major distraction; it’s really hard for any person to resist the temptation of a pocket computer that could show them exactly what they love. To compete with that as a teacher is very challenging.”
READ MORE: IS EVERYONE IN FAVOR OF SCHOOL CELL PHONE BANS?
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