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Everyone knows that kids are hopelessly addicted to their cell phones, right? Well, maybe not.

Last spring, the Ontario Ministry of Education announced that students in grades K-6 would be required to keep their phones out of sight, and students in grades 7-12 would not be permitted to telephone during class hours, unless necessary for educational or medical reasons.

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This decision is driven by concerns about distraction. As the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reports, “Incoming notifications or the mere proximity of a mobile device can be a distraction, leading students to lose focus on the task to be accomplished.”

To find out just how bad the cell phone ban was going, I spoke to Don Hickey, principal of Carleton Place High School (CPHS). His answer surprised me.

“Every student I’ve spoken to so far has supported it,” he told me. “They agree that they have been distracted for years. They haven’t done their best because of their phone and they understand that it could be addictive.

What changes does he see?

“Teachers build positive relationships between students and teachers. They are more connected to children without technology being a barrier. Children actually talk to children. They leave the building. They are going for a walk.

Do students agree with this positive assessment?

“One hundred percent,” CPHS Grade 12 student Mike Mirizzi told me. “There are more people talking than being on the phone.” Toilet culture has also changed. “Even during school hours, there were 10 to 15 kids hanging out in the bathrooms with their phones. Since the telephone ban, there aren’t really many students in the toilets anymore.”

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Classmate Stella Gardiner finds that students talk about more meaningful topics without cell phones. “We talk less about pop culture moments. We don’t show each other videos or texts. I can take the time to learn about them or help with the work. She checks her phone during breaks or free periods and focuses on learning in class.

But perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that kids do just fine without their devices. There have always been a few non-technology swirls within the swirling digital currents of society. One example is Red Pine Camp, a century-old family camp on Golden Lake near Algonquin Park, where about 50 16- and 17-year-old “junior employees” are barred from having cell phones each summer.

I asked the camp’s executive director, Janet Cottreau, what happens when kids turn to technology.

“When staff members arrive at camp, they don’t know what to do with themselves,” she said. “About two weeks later, you’ll hear them say how much they love it. They will start talking about the freedom they feel and the relief of not having to check something.

Accustomed to spending their days with a cell phone in their hand, children need to be trained to chat and look someone in the eye. After the summer, Cottreau says, they are “more willing to communicate with people and more comfortable having conversations.”

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Can children survive without cell phones? It turns out they can. It turns out they actually thrive. With the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) reporting that 35 percent of Ontario high school students spend five hours or more per day on electronic devices during their free time, it is important that institutions that help shape our young people teach them that spending time without texting, without news and without Tik Tok is not only possible, but desirable. There is a price to pay for constant connectivity in terms of attention, stress and loss of face-to-face human contact. Without the minute-by-minute pings of notifications, we can all be a little more human.

John M. Richardson teaches at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa.

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