Iowa School to ban phone for mental health

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) - A high school in Des Moines, Iowa, is taking steps it hopes will improve students' mental health.

The school will no longer allow students to use cell phones, headphones, or airpods during the school day.

The new policy takes effect next school year.

This is a popular sight in the halls of Hoover high -- students using cell phones and headphones -- devices that won't be allowed during the school day next year.

"I do scroll Instagram a lot," said Caden Walker, a student.

Most teenagers like Caden Walker have access to smartphones and use social media for upwards of eight hours a day.

Gen Z is more digitally connected than ever.

"I feel like a lot of my mental issues were definitely amplified by the use of my phone because it provides distractions," Walker said.

It's that disconnect creating concern for school administrators at Hoover over students’ well-being.

This fall they are ditching digital distractions to improve mental health.

It's part of the Hoover mental health movement.

"This isn't a campaign against phones. This isn't a campaign against social media," Assistant School Principal, Rob Randazzo, said.

Randazzo is spearheading the change after seeing the rising effect of anxiety and depression on his students.

"One thing that we are needing to do for students, we are needing to re-imagine school for them. Without a phone," Randazzo said.

Hoover High School is implementing a phone-free school year. It is also encouraging parents to introduce cell phones to their teens at the age of 14 and no use of social media until the age of 16. School leaders know this will be difficult but believe it will help students reconnect with family, community, and school.

"We're going to see not just grades increase, but the quality of the students work, the creativity, the invention. That's what we're even more excited for," Randazzo said.

Excitement and improvement for what's to come.

"I mean the classes coming after me, it's our future. I just want our students and our generation to be, you know, one again," Walker said.

Randazzo says during the pandemic there was a higher level of anxiety and depression in students.

But, he says there's evidence that shows students began showing signs and symptoms of mental health issues as far back as 20-12, when cell phone technology became more commonplace.