cellphone
Earl Grey Senior Public School students were told this week that they would have to leave their cell phones in their lockers during and between classes starting Tuesday.

The school is enforcing the ban after staff, parents and students looked "to minimize distractions in the classroom and reduce the inappropriate uses of the devices during the school day," school principal Bill Vatzolas wrote in a letter to parents this week.

The Grades 7 and 8 students will be permitted to use their devices during lunch hour with restrictions, Vatzolas wrote. But the rules will be: no social media, no texting, no taking or viewing photos and videos.

"(Cell phones) are essentially the electronic version of talking in class," Ryan Bird, spokesperson for the Toronto District School Board, said in an interview.

The policy was adjusted as "not only a reactive but proactive" measure, Bird said.

He said the TDSB once instituted a board-wide cell phone ban back in 2007 but it was lifted in 2011.

"It was just a realization that there is an important role for technology in the classroom," he said. "The key here is appropriate use of technology."

There are some classes where cell phones can come in handy, he added, and others when there is "absolutely no reason why you should have a cell phone out."

He was unsure if Earl Grey was the first school in the TDSB to implement a ban, as the rules are at the discretion of individual schools and teachers.

A speaker will be coming to the middle school next month to speak with students and parents about proper use and behaviour.

Dr. James Roberts, a professor at Baylor University in Texas and author of Too Much of a Good Thing: Are You Addicted to Your Smartphone? believes the ban is a "bold and courageous move" and Earl Grey should be commended.

"Study after study shows that when we're distracted by smart phones and other technology in the classroom, it undermines student learning," he said.

But he also predicted some pushback.

"For the students it's going to be like trying to detox a drug addict," Roberts said, pointing to six signs of withdrawal that teachers should be looking out for.

Cell phones release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good, and "the same stuff when we get a hug or make an accomplishment. There's a reason we're attached," he said.