Say "No" To Distraction! California High School Students Have Their Mobile Phones Locked

High school students in California are now required to keep their devices in a magnetically sealed pouch during school hours, NBC News reports. Previously, the Typical Student team told you that California Wants To Tax Text Messages.

Lock Your Phones, Kids!

Concerned with lack of student attentiveness, school admins in 20 miles south of San Francisco, issued a new policy this school year. Here's how Adam Gelb, assistant principal of San Mateo High School, commented the introduction of the new policy: "We could walk into a variety of classrooms, and kids would be on their cellphones anywhere from 5 seconds, checking a text, to 30 to 45 minutes at a time."

Starting this month, nearly 1,700 students place their devices in a Yondr pouch that closes with a proprietary lock on a daily basis. At the end of the day, the school admins unlock them. 

How Much Is The Pouch?

Both school admins and educators claim they've noticed a positive effect of this new policy on students. Still, researchers doubt its long-term effectiveness. Believe it or not, the program was funded with a $20,000 grant. Students got pouches assigned to them for free, losing one will require paying a $25 replacement fee.

Surprisingly, many students have embraced the idea after hesitation. Calvin Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, comments: “The ability to be free of distraction and concentrate on things is increasingly valuable, so it’s a good general function of our schools to be a place where our students get trained to keep their concentration on one thing at a time.” 

Newport says: "When you shift your focus back and forth between a teacher and a cellphone, your brain performance pays a “switching cost.”