Andover Middle Schoolers Manage To Go A Day Without Their Phones

ANDOVER, MA — To the students at Wood Hill Middle School, personal cell phones might be relatively new, but the problems of spending their lives online are already obvious. Social media, they already worry, turns everything into a competition, and the internet means they never have to solve problems entirely on their own. Fortunately for them, Principal Patrick Bucco worries about the same thing, so one Friday each month is "Disconnecting To Reconnect" day at the school. While they already aren't allowed their phones during school, students also give up access to laptops and other screens on Disconnect to Reconnect days, and some try to go the whole day, including out of school hours, without their phones.

After launching the year's theme, Bucco had students volunteer to help organize activities. Rather than just giving up technology, he wanted the students to find new things to replace it with. The first Disconnect To Reconnect, in October, saw students doing live performances for each other. Friday, Nov. 22 was the second of the no-screen days, and students organized a number of service activities to fill parts of the day in its place.

One group cooked a pancake breakfast for their parents, with the proceeds going to charity. Another group made bat houses, which will be hung around the school to reduce mosquito populations. Cooper Conroy, a seventh-grade student who helped plan the community service day, explained that this would hopefully reduce EEE risk.

Cindy Sullivan, a teaching assistant who is married to a contractor, helped the students plan and make their bat houses.

"They have embraced this 100 percent," Sullivan said. "They see how this is going to affect their environment. They like being hands-on."

Gavin Oliveira, another seventh grade organizer, said they wanted to plan activities they could both learn from and have fun doing.

"We wanted to find a way to get out of using technology for a day, and to engage students in doing something hands-on," Gavin said. "It gives people a chance to do what they love."

"It's better than being on our phones," said James Flagg, another organizer.

A group of organizers who spoke to Patch, all in the seventh grade, said they got their cell phones only in the last year or two, but they quickly became big parts of their lives. They spend hours a day on their phones, although they pointed out that their parents spend even more time.

"I told my dad it was disconnect to reconnect day, and he told me not to use my phone. But he was on his phone," said Elli Peck, laughing.

"I think we all need it," Bucco admitted. "It's not just the students, this is for everyone."

The students were trying to extend the tech embargo past the school day, when they are not allowed their phones anyway. Each faced difficulties: Elli, losing social media, Gavin, giving up Netflix after dinner. Another student was sad to be missing a Celtics game.

But it was worth the cost, they said.

Online, "People always seem to make everything a competition," said Elina McKenna.

"People brag about stuff, that's basically what social media is. Social media doesn't really do anything for you," Gavin added.

"It's refreshing not to have screens. You have to work to solve problems," Gavin said.

James said that when he got his phone he didn't play outside as much as he did before, but Disconnect To Reconnect has helped remind him that there are more important things than screens, and he now spends as much time outside as he used to.

At times, the students' parents will let them play video games, or watch TV, just because it's more social than scrolling social media. Elli can play video games if she's playing with her brother, she said. Gavin said it's "fine" when he FaceTimes a friend.

According to Bucco, the students on the whole have embraced disconnect to reconnect day.

"They've been fantastic, they've really seemed to take it on. It makes it a different day," Bucco said. "It's a day you don't have to worry about what people are saying on their phones about you."

The next Disconnect To Reconnect Day will be a crafting day, Cooper said, with snowmen to decorate at lunch time. If they had time to plan the events, they would even be interested in doing Disconnect To Reconnect more frequently, James said.

For Gavin, like for many of us, having an excuse to be away from his phone is freeing.

"When I know I don't have my phone, I feel like I don't need it," he said.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.om.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the student who was sad to be missing the Celtics game.