Cambridge becomes first to ban cell phones

Short film showcase planned for Park Theater in Glens Falls Aug. 31

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While banning books gets all the headlines, it's banning cell phones that makes the most sense.

Jonathan Haidt, a social psychology professor at New York University's Stern School, has become the face of banning cell phones after publishing his book The Anxious Generation this spring as Haidt argued that the shift from "play-based" to "phone-based" childhood is making children miserable.

He concluded the modern "phone-based" childhood causes "social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addiction." But most of all, it has led to an epidemic of mental illness in young children.

Haidt argued that no child should have a smartphone before high school, no social media before age 16 and all schools should be phone free.

Earlier this month, Cambridge Central School became the first local school to take action by banning cell phones in schools. The bigger question is why more schools aren't following suit.

This fall, New York City schools are also putting in place a ban and Los Angeles city schools are enacting their ban in January while Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require a warning to label social media platforms with a warning about the harmful affects on developing brains.

Three states - Florida, Ohio and Indiana - already have cell phone bans in place while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is poised to put forth her own legislation for a cell phone ban in January. Unfortunately, one such ban was voted down in Vermont this past year.

Ken Facin, the superintendent at Cambridge, told The Post-Star they believe the ban will improve academic performance, mental health and emotional well-being.

After Florida enacted its ban, teachers were amazed to see that students were actually talking to each other.

"We're not against technology," Facin told The Post-Star. "We just want our kids to be present when the teacher is teaching math or science."

"We are seeing the harmful effects of these phones and the access to the internet all across the nation," New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks told Education Week. "In fact, across the world, kids have become fully addicted to these phones."

Haidt has suggested a nation-wide ban in schools as soon as September.

"That would give all young people six or seven hours a day away from TikTok and texting, freeing up enormous amounts of time for learning from their teachers and developing friendships with other students," Haidt writes.

This is more than just one person's opinion. Schools have seen an increase in mental health issues beginning around 2012 - about the time smartphone use began to rise dramatically.

Haidt cites that the rates of depression and anxiety among adolescents were stable, but rose noticeably in 2010, three years after the introduction of the iPhone, while suicide rates rose 48 percent for young people aged 10 to 19. For girls 10 to 14, the suicide rate jumped a staggering 131 percent.

But let's take this to another level. I contend that cell phone use is making us all miserable.

You can argue our political divisions are fueled by social media where we often unfriend long-time acquaintances over an inappropriate meme.

Many have tied the divisions in our political discourse to the rise of social media and cell phone use as well. Maybe political advertising should be banned on social media.

We all could use a cell phone ban. When my son was growing up we did not allow cell phone use at the dinner table - hey, it's rude - but maybe each family should go farther and have a nightly cell-phone-free zone for family time.

It's time for reality check. How many important emails, text messages or Facebook posts do you see each evening that could not wait until morning? Let's all put the cell phone in a locked drawer for one week and see how we do.

We banned smoking from public spaces so why not cell phones. The next time you are out to eat,  look around the restaurant and count the number of couples staring at their phones instead of conversing or staring deeply into each other's eyes.

We are guilty of it.

We all need more disciplined use of our phones. We all need to enact our own personal ban and spend that time actually talking with friends and neighbors. If I remember correctly, the original intent of cell phones was so we could communicate more easily.

It seems to have done the opposite.

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PBS coverage

Television commentators were downright giddy during their coverage of the Democratic National Convention last week.

For a long time, broadcasters have tried to cover the drama of the conventions where there was no drama. The candidates were already chosen and all that was left was the speeches.

There was no news.

Because of Kamala Harris' recent ascension as nominee, there was renewed energy to the coverage of the Democrats.

For me the best coverage came from the PBS Newshour team. What made it stand out was the commentary of David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, two newspaper guys.

Brooks' insights into the politics and the mood of the country and where it is going are always refreshing and thought-provoking.

And the PBS crew was far less giddy than other networks.

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Short film fundraiser

While checking to see when the next comedy show is at the Park Theater in Glens Falls, I stumbled on this event.

The North Country Short Film Showcase will be held at the Park Theater on Saturday, Aug. 31 to raise money for a local filmmaker to finish his project.

"I am putting on this event as a way to help raise funds for my next project," John Fitzpatrick writes.  "I thought what better way to do this, then to help local filmmakers show their work on the big screen, and give the community the opportunity to see just how many talented people there are in the area."

I've been a big supporter of the Adirondack Film Festival where the shorts were sometimes the most compelling movies to watch so I was excited to see this event coming up.

There will be two blocks of films - drama and horror - with a question and answer period after each block. Doors open at 5:45 with the first film starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and will feature the work of John Fitzpatrick, Cameron Gallagher, Dylan Clark, Elisheva Novella, Joe Gietl, Katie Lynn Johnson and Ryan Jenkins.

Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.