Addie LaPointe

Hannah Welts ‘25 is on her phone while a lesson is being taught in class. Welts is one of many students that uses their phone in class daily. “Without the distraction of the phone, the opportunity to learn increases,” said Micheal J. Fox.

Phones have majorly affected students’ ability to learn in many ways over the years. Students today have a whole new environment created for them since the first iPhone was released in 2007. Learning has changed in numerous ways, for better and for worse, because of this.

English teacher, Micheal J. Fox, is the longest-tenured educator at Hollis Brookline High School and has many thoughts about how phones have impacted the ability of students to learn. “In all my years of teaching, it’s probably the worst distraction I’ve ever encountered,” Fox said. When asked if it is personally distracting as a teacher to see students on their phones in class, Fox says, “Absolutely, because part of me, I’m trying to focus on teaching, but I also have to see people on their phone, so yeah it’s very distracting.”

He claims not only is it distracting for a student to be on their phones in class, but also for the teacher who is trying to teach them. Fox also mentions that it is hard to enforce his rules when students see teachers using their own phones throughout the day when they are supposed to be modeling good learning behavior.

Taylor Christle ‘25, a former student of Micheal J. Fox, says that learning was easier in his classroom because he had rules about phone usage in class. “I feel like I did learn a lot more because he was stricter on the phones, and if he wasn’t strict, I think I would just be on my phone the whole class and not learn anything,” said Christle. As a student, she feels more learning is done when there are stricter rules on when it’s okay to be on your phone. Christle agrees that it is hard to learn if you are distracted by what’s on your phone. “I don’t pay attention to the lesson, I pay attention to my phone,” said Christle.

Current student of Micheal J. Fox, Sophia Brickner ‘25, claims she does not learn information in class while she is on her phone. “If I’m actively on my phone I’m probably not learning anything, but when I put it down, yeah,” said Brickner.

This shows the difference in how much learning gets done depending on if you have a phone out or not. Having a phone out in class and not paying attention, and having your phone away with all attention to the teacher lead to two different outcomes. Here at HBHS, it seems that phones are not helpful and distracting to a student trying to learn.