Across the United States this year, more and more policies banning student cellphone use in K-12 schools are being enacted at state and district levels. While cellphones are a major source of distraction from learning, let’s not forget that students will be distracted at school with or without cellphones—but that’s not always a bad thing.
Why? Emotion regulation.
While distraction may have a bad reputation, it is actually an emotion-regulation strategy in which we divert attention away from an emotional situation. Research shows that distraction is maladaptive when paired with avoidance but adaptive when paired with acceptance. In other words, distraction is harmful if used to keep away from an emotional situation but is beneficial if used to calm down before facing an emotional situation.
We all often use distraction to feel better in our daily lives, like viewing photo frames of family on our desks or motivational decor in our offices to smile or continue working after a rough moment.
The same applies to students. Think about the 13-year-old who talks during math class to disengage from a frustrating task. Or the 17-year-old who doodles because she is stressed about an upcoming test in history class. In fact, research shows that distraction through the creative activity of drawing is a particularly effective way of lessening negative affect and boosting positive affect.
In the short term, distraction can be helpful when there is intention to engage with negative emotions in the near future. It provides immediate relief, even in emotionally intense situations, because it is an attention-deployment strategy that is carried out before emotional information is fully processed in our brain.
Plus, distraction is easy to rely on and requires little mental effort. Think about a 15-year-old who watches a funny video on YouTube after a heated argument with his friend. Distraction allows students to reset their emotions by taking a mental step back from an emotional situation, giving them the space and energy to deal with the situation later.
Educators can use distraction to help students reenergize or refocus at school. If cellphones are not banned at your school, you might insert short breaks into lesson plans where students can use their phones. If you prefer unplugged distraction, you can provide movement or social breaks for students to stretch or talk to friends.
It would be helpful to provide students with a choice of calm or active distraction that matches their temperamental activity level to help them regulate themselves. For younger learners in grades 1-5, calm distraction might look like coloring a simple mandala while active distraction could be a freeze dance. For older learners in grades 6-12, the calm distraction could be meditative yoga or quiet me-time while the active distraction might be a short walk down the hallway or a brief chat with peers. Students of all ages can put motivational or self-affirmation quotes on their notebooks to look at throughout the school day.
With or without cellphones, there are plenty of ways that educators can use distraction strategically to motivate and energize students.
Distraction, however, becomes unhelpful in the long run when there is no intention to engage with the situation that prompted negative emotions in the future. Prolonged distraction can lead to hiding or running away from an emotional situation. Imagine a 16-year-old who daydreams during English/language arts class after receiving disappointing grades on recent assignments, only to miss important content and do worse on future assignments.
Distraction can sometimes be a slippery slope toward avoidance, such as skipping classes or not attending school. But, again, that doesn’t mean it’s always bad.
When educators understand how distraction functions as an emotion-regulation strategy, they can help students notice if they are using distraction in an unhelpful manner. When students appear distracted, have them explore and identify their emotions using a mood meter, a visual aid that gives students the vocabulary to articulate how they’re feeling. Ask students what emotions they feel and what they are trying to distract themselves from. This may include feeling frustrated, bored, or fatigued with a task, feeling anxious about a quiz or an assignment, or feeling stressed about conflict with others.
Once you understand their state of mind, prompt students to consider whether distraction is helpful for them in the long term. Is the distraction providing relief in the moment or encouraging them to put off solving the problem? If students do not have a plan to reengage with whatever it was that prompted them to seek out a distraction, support them in tackling it head on.
This may include setting a timer for their distraction activity or using other emotion-regulation strategies, like problem-solving, reframing, or support-seeking. By understanding the role that distraction can play in regulating adolescents’ emotions, educators can tackle the negative aspects of distraction while still allowing students to benefit from its use.
Cellphone bans in schools probably will reduce distraction from learning, given the addictiveness of social media, which is programmed to maximize platform engagement. But while cellphones are a tool for distraction, a cellphone ban may not be a panacea. Students will likely remain distracted with or without cellphones. Instead, it is key for educators to understand students’ emotions underlying their distraction at school for them to feel and do better in classrooms.
