Mental Health & Smartphones
- samuelyan8888
- Sep 22
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 17
It has been an increasingly worrisome trend that our students are experiencing loneliness, anxiety, depression, stress, and various forms of bullying. They are constantly distracted both in and outside of school by smartphone use and social media. As we all know, smartphones and social media are thousands of times worse than what we faced in the TV generation.
At each bus stop, we no longer see middle and high school students chatting or playing with one another. Instead, they stand apart, each looking down at their phones.
In 2023, I wrote an open letter in the Loudoun Times addressed to the incoming LCPS superintendent. I later shared it with the entire school board, Dr. Spence, and his communications director. I have not received any feedback.
On my letter, I said this "I am concerned about giving iPads to kindergarteners. If smartphones can be banned, a logical step would be to eliminate iPads from elementary schools as well.".
Apparently, not much has been done over the past two years. One parent told me that a teacher said her first grader plays games on the school-issued Chromebook during class. When the parent asked the assistant principal why the games couldn’t be removed from the Chromebooks, she was told they could not. What a tragedy to see this happening on our watch, while our educators claim they can do nothing.
Time is short, and we cannot wait any longer before more harm is done to our students. If elected, I will ban smartphones at all school levels, limit students’ access to social media, and prohibit electronic devices in elementary schools.
