As society becomes increasingly reliant on phones, Deerfield Academy strives to separate students from their devices. During the cell-phone free week from October 8th to October 17th, approximately 100 students voluntarily turned in their phones to the Academy Security.
Connor Merrill, the Dean of Students, explained, “The Philosophy of Happiness started the [cell-phone free] program, but this is the first time the SLO (Student Life Office) is supporting this initiative.” He credits the turnout to the positive experiences students had last year, which encouraged them to tell their friends to join in.
Blythe Gering ‘27, a phone-free week participant, shared her reasons for joining, saying, “I had heard from people who had done it in the past that they really enjoyed doing it, and it was really effective. Why not do it?” Gering described the benefits from the challenge, stating, “I definitely don’t go on my phone anymore before bed, because I kind of broke off that dependency. When I go to the dining hall during sit-down dinners, I don’t bring my phone anymore, so it’s just like a lot of more face to face interactions.”
Meryl Gilbert ‘27 did not participate in the challenge, but she still felt a positive influence on her phone usage because many people around her had turned in their phones. Gilbert describes her experience on the bus back from a game, explaining, “It was actually kind of cool because a lot of the people in the team did the challenge. And so we were driving back from an away game, I would be the only one on my phone…it just made me put my phone down and it made me want to talk.”
However, many students still didn’t participate despite the positive results. Josh Freedman ‘26 explained, “The main reason I didn’t participate in it is because I had a debate tournament that weekend, and I knew that I needed my phone for it.” Freedman elaborates that he would have liked to participate but said, “There’s just a lot of things that I do where I just straight up, like, need my phone, for like communications, or for like timing, like my parents are picking me up this weekend.” These challenges are not unique to Freedman as Mr. Merrill explained, “There are some seniors that did not opt in due to the college application process.” Day students also need their phones as a method of communication with their parents for transportation. Melody Zhao ‘26, a day student, explained, “The reason why I didn’t participate in the no phone challenge was because it’s hard for day students to not have their phones on campus when they need a text to go home and get a ride and when they need to call their parents.”
Mr. Merrill elaborates on the SLO’s efforts to accommodate Deerfield students, stating, “We let them pick up their phone if they need to make an important call.” Additionally, the SLO required students who went off campus during the cell-phone-free week to check out their phones for safety. He adds that “There were day students who opted into the initiative, but we recognize the challenges with leaving their phone behind but we want to support them by letting them pick up their phone when they go home.”
However, Zhao points out that for day students, “checking our phones out is one step, but still, there’s that element where our parents might be worried about not having our phones there or being able to reach them and call them.” She adds “it wasn’t super clear that you could check your phone out and have that just during the day, because I might have done it.”
Another challenge worth addressing is checking the time. Gering explains that “I didn’t really know the time even when it was after the school day. So, like, I’d go to soccer, or I’d get back from sit-down, and I just wouldn’t know the time, and so I wouldn’t know how to, like plan out my day because of that.” The SLO supplied alarm clocks for participants, but Gering states that she “found it super quiet” and had her friends wake her up in the mornings just in case.
Zhao concludes that “it was a good challenge, but it could have been more accessible to different people, like day students…I’d say that I would want to participate next time.” Many students grew more aware of their cell phone habits throughout the week. Although a sixth of the school participated in the first official cell phone challenge, some interested students faced challenges that prevented them from turning in their phones. The cell-phone free week is one step closer to distancing students from their phones, but challenges still remain.