F14: School Without Social Media And Smartphones
We've all had that gut feeling—something isn’t right, but we second-guess ourselves. Cumberland Community School in East London didn’t wait for years of studies to confirm what they already knew: smartphones were hurting student focus. In 2023, they encouraged students to delete social media apps during their exam months. The results? Higher grades, better engagement, and improved focus. By 2024, their progress scores jumped, sparking nationwide policy changes. Research confirms what our intuition told us—just having a smartphone nearby drains cognitive power.
The data suggests, if your state hasn’t already, it’s time to rethink the role of smartphones in our education systems.
Welcome to My Good Three Podcast: Good Stories For A Better Week
Click here for a list of Episodes.
(FULL TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE BELOW)
Listen To Full Episode:
Or, Listen Where You Get Your Podcasts:
Read the transcript for the full episode:
F14: SCHOOL WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA AND SMARTPHONES
THERE’S NOTHING WORSE THAN HAVING A FEELING ABOUT SOMETHING, AND THEN, BECAUSE THERE WEREN’T ENOUGH PEOPLE AROUND YOU FEELING THE SAME WAY, YOU DECIDED NOT TO TRUST YOUR GUT…. ONLY TO FIND OUT LATER THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE.
IT’S A DOUBLE FAIL…FIRST, YOU DID THE WRONG THING, AND SECOND….YOU HAVE TO SIT THERE AND LIVE WITH YOURSELF, KNOWING YOUR INTUITION WAS CORRECTLY GUIDING YOU AND YOU DIDN’T TRUST YOURSELF ENOUGH TO ACT.
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT A SCHOOL THAT DECIDED NOT TO WAIT FOR OTHER SCHOOLS AROUND THEM TO ACT, AND INSTEAD TRUSTED THEY WERE RIGHT ABOUT WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA AND SMARTPHONES WERE DOING TO THEIR STUDENTS.
IT’S A LESSON WE CAN ALL GAIN SOMETHING FROM…IT UNCOVERED MORE DATA ABOUT HOW THE MERE PRESENCE OF A SMARTPHONE AFFECTS A STUDENT’S ABILITY TO LEARN…BUT ALSO, BECAUSE IT’S AN EXAMPLE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF BETTER TRUSTING OUR COLLECTIVE INTUITION.
EPISODE
COLLECTIVE INTUITION IS DEFINED AS A SHARED JUDGEMENT THAT IS BASED ON A GROUP’S COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND COGNITIVE ABILITIES. THE JUDGEMENT IS ACTUALLY FIRST FORMED INDEPENDENTLY AND THEN IT’S SHARED AND INTERPRETED AS A GROUP.
AS IT RELATES TO SMARTPHONES AND HOW THEY IMPACT OUR ABILITY TO FOCUS, OUR COLLECTIVE INTUITION FLAGGED THIS AS A PROBLEM MANY YEARS AGO. HOW MANY OF YOU, AS FAR BACK AS SIX OR EIGHT YEARS AGO, WERE WONDERING IF THESE SMARTPHONES HAD AN IMPACT ON OUR CONCENTRATION? WE’VE ALL SHARED OUR CONCERNS FOR OUR CHILDREN AND HOW SMARTPHONES CAPTURED THEIR ATTENTION MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE…AND WHETHER THIS MIGHT IMPACT THEM IN SOME WAY.
FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS, THERE’S BEEN SOME DATA SAYING THAT OUR COLLECTIVE INTUITION WAS RIGHT.
HOWEVER, AS IT GOES, THERE’S OFTEN A DELAY BETWEEN COLLECTIVE INTUITION AND CORRECTIVE ACTION…. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO OUR INSTITUTIONS.
LUCKILY FOR CHIDREN AT CUMBERLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL IN NEWHAM, EAST LONDON, A SECONDARY SCHOOL WITH A HISTORY OF UNDERPERORMANCE, THEIR STAFF DECIDED NOT TO WAIT FOR YEARS-LONG RESEARCH STUDIES OR FOR OTHER SCHOOLS TO ACT – THEY TRUSTED THEIR INTUTION….AND THE RESULTS ARE INSPIRING.
IN 2023, THE CUMBERLAND STAFF MADE HEADLINES WHEN THEY ASKED THEIR STUDENTS TO REMOVE SOCIAL MEDIA APPS FROM THEIR SMARTPHONES AS THEY HEADED INTO EXAM SEASON. IT WASN’T REQUIRED, BUT MANY STUDENTS REMOVED TIKTOK, SNAPCHAT, AND INSTAGRAM FROM THEIR PHONES, AND SOME EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO SURRENDER THEIR PHONES ENTIRELY FOR A PERIOD OF TWO MONTHS.
ACCORDING TO THE SCHOOL’S HEADTEACHER, EKHLAS RAHMAN, THE 2023 COHORT THAT REMOVED THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA APPS AND HANDED OVER THEIR SMARTPHONES, DID SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN THE GROUP THAT DIDN’T, AND THEY FOUND IDENTICAL RESULTS IN 2024 WHEN THEY DID THE EXPERIMENT AGAIN.
AFTER TWO YEARS OF IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM, THE SCHOOL’S PROGRESS SCORE HAS JUMPED BY A GRADE AND A QUARTER.
AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS ACROSS THE UK QUICKLY TOOK NOTICE. IN 2024, THE OUTGOING TORY GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTED NEW GUIDANCE TO SCHOOLS ABOUT SMARTPHONES, AND THE UK’S EDUCATION SECRETARY FOLLOWED UP WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL SCHOOLS TO BAN THE USE OF SMARTPHONES WHILE ON SCHOOL GROUNDS.
CONCURRENTLY, A U.K. THINKTANK CALLED POLICY EXHANGE CONDUCTED A STUDY, AND OF THE SCHOOLS THAT FOLLOWED THE GUIDANCE, THEY FOUND THAT THE BAN LED TO A RISE IN GSCE SCORES (WHICH IS EQUIVALENT TO THE GED IN THE U.S.) OF ONE TO TWO GRADES ABOVE SCHOOLS WITH MORE RELAXED POLICIES.
SO, WHAT’S GOING ON EXACTLY? THESE RESULTS ARE SIGNIFICANT.
IF WE LOOK BACK AT RESEARCH FROM THE 1980’S AROUND COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY, OR CLT, IT SHOWS THAT OUR BRAINS HAVE A WORKING MEMORY – THINK OF IT LIKE A COMPUTER HAVING A BROWSER WITH TABS - OUR BRAIN WILL OPERATE LESS OPTIMALLY IF THERE ARE TOO MANY TASKS HAPPENING, OR TOO MANY TABS OPEN, JUST LIKE A COMPUTER.
WHEN SMARTPHONES WERE INTRODUCED AND SUSPICIONS STARTED TO RISE THAT THEY MAY IMPACT OUR CONGNITIVE FUNCTION, THE LEADING THEORY WAS THAT THEY IMPACTED COGNITIVE LOAD….THAT WHEN STUDENTS HAVE SMARTPHONES AVAILABLE TO THEM, THEIR COMPUTER BELIEVES THERE ARE TASKS OCCURING, AND THE EFFECT IS AS IF THERE ARE TOO MANY TABS OPEN.
AND SEVERAL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES SINCE 2021 HAVE REPEATEDLY SUPPORTED THIS THEORY. RESEARCH HAS SHOWS THAT FOR STUDENTS WHO USE SMARTPHONES REGULARLY, THE MERE PRESENCE OF AN OPERATIONAL SMARTPHONE, A PHONE WITHIN REACH, DECREASES BOTH ATTENTION AND PERFORMANCE ON HIGH-LEVEL TASKS. MEANING, JUST HAVING A SMARTPHONE IN A BAG NEXT TO A STUDENT WHO IS TAKING A TEST, WILL AFFECT THEIR ABILITY TO PERFORM ON THE TEST.
OUR COLLECTIVE INTUITION OVER THE YEARS WAS RIGHT. WE’VE WITNESSED HOW OUR BRAINS HAVE CHANGED AND HOW OUR CHILDREN STRUGGLE TO PERFORM WITH SOCIAL MEDIA AND SMARTPHONES LURKING. THE RESEARCH SUPPORTS OUR SUSPICIONS, AND NOW WE’RE IN A POSITION TO ACT.
SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM ARE ALREADY A STEP AHEAD, AND IN THE UNITED STATES, THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR STUDENTS AS WELL.
IT’S TIME TO CLOSE SOME OF THE DISTRACTING TABS ON THE BROWSER BECAUSE THE PROCESSING POWER OF OUR NEXT GENERATION…DEPENDS ON IT.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36256-4