Lake Tahoe Unified School District rules for cell phones this school year

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - As South Lake Tahoe students head back to the classroom on Monday, August 26, the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) will be enforcing current rules on cell phones during the school day. Many school districts across the county, including nearby Carson City, have banned cell phone use during the school day for multiple reasons, most dealing with a lack of attention to learning, addiction, and bullying, and other mental health issues.

At South Tahoe High School, these are the rules concerning cell phones:

Cell phones and earbuds need to be put away and off or silenced during all class periods unless directed otherwise by the classroom teacher.

At South Tahoe Middle School:

Cell phones need to be put away and off or silenced from the start of the school day until the end of the school day. They do not come out between classes or at lunchtime.

At elementary schools:

Cell phones are not typically an issue said Dr. Alan Reeder, the LTUSD associate superintendent of educational services. He said the elementary staff requests that cell phones be turned off and put away if a student brings one to school.

Before all students were given a Chromebook, students would occasionally be asked to use cell phones for educational purposes. Relying on students' personal devices is no longer necessary.

In the book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, author Jonathan Haidt investigates the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech. Haidt states that there are four foundational harms in a phone-based childhood:

Social deprivation. Since 2012, the time adolescents spend with friends in face-to-face settings has dropped 50% — and the pandemic only made it worse.

Sleep deprivation. A lack of sleep leads to “depression, anxiety, irritability, cognitive deficits, poor learning, and lower grades” — and long-term studies have proven smartphones are making us sleep worse.

Attention fragmentation. Since our phones are constantly interrupting us, our ability to focus is severely impaired.

Addiction. Many kids are using their phones like dopamine slot machines, always in search of the next hit — and big tech has designed their apps to encourage this behavior.

He also offers solutions in the book, and that "foundational reforms" to these four harms are:

No smartphones before high school. We should give our kids basic, text-and-call-only phones until they are 14 years old.

No social media before 16. When preteens are subjected to endless algorithmically chosen content and comparisons with influencers, it can damage their self-worth permanently.

Phone-free schools. More than just disallowing phones during class, schools should force kids to lock them away altogether. “That is the only way to free up their attention for each other and for their teachers,” Haidt writes.

Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. Let your kids learn to “develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults,” naturally, Haidt suggests. Give them room to try, fail, and learn from it.