The results of NBC6’s annual teacher survey are in, and we are taking a closer look at what nearly 1,400 teachers said about cellphones and social media in Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools.
In Broward, cellphones are banned from bell to bell at every level. In Miami-Dade, high school students cannot use their phones during class periods, but can use them during lunch and other breaks. Thanks to a new law, cellphones are off limits to students in elementary and middle schools statewide.
“I don’t know about other states, but in Florida, you guys cannot have your phones,” said Eloy Padula, telling us what he said to his students on the first day of school.
Padula teaches at a Miami-Dade middle school and strongly supports the cellphone ban.
“There’s a lot of studies out that show that kids’ concentration spans are going down every year and for sure, that has to be related to technology and social media,” Padula said.
Our survey shows 90% of teachers support banning cellphones in younger grades, as the new law mandates.
“I think phones have been the downfall of our teenage minds. Social media? Don’t get me started,” said Wyndi Fasciana, who teaches at Western High School. “Social media is such a bad influence, and I see it, the bullying, the cyber bullying.”
93% of teachers in our survey are concerned about the impact of social media on their students’ mental health.
“It can be a tool for good, and it can also be a tool used for evil, and we’ve seen all sides of that,” said Angie Luna, who teaches at Aventura Waterways K8 Center.
At Jose Marti MAST Academy, Jen Kaelin enjoys her cellphone-free classroom.
“Not having it there in front of them has definitely allowed for them to be more focused in the class, they’re being more responsive, they’re being more attentive, you’ve got those fewer distractions,” Kaelin explained.
Ever since Broward instituted its near-total cellphone ban last year, high school teachers have noticed the biggest impacts.
“Kids are talking to each other more because they don’t have phones, right, they’re talking to the person next to them, they’re doing group work, engaging in discussion, it’s a good thing,” said Ladonna Van Buren, a teacher at Cypress Bay High School.
As an example of the pernicious impact social media has on mental health, Van Buren told us even the most popular kids are telling her they constantly judge themselves against the impossible standards they see on social media, and that negatively impacts their self-esteem.
Benjamin Hope, who teaches at McArthur High, told us the cellphone ban seems to disconnect the line between fights and kids being able to text each other all day at school.
“So it cuts out that little coordinated violence, or even the social bullying and stuff that may be going on during those times? It’s out,” Hope said.
Our survey is not a scientific poll, it is totally voluntary and it was distributed by the teachers’ unions in each county.
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