{"id":218346,"date":"2025-09-11T14:17:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218346\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T14:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:17:20","slug":"from-burner-phones-to-decks-of-cards-nyc-teens-are-adjusting-to-the-smartphone-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/218346\/","title":{"rendered":"From burner phones to decks of cards: NYC teens are adjusting to the smartphone ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block-key=\"1bozd\">New York City students are one week into the <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/nyc-students-head-back-to-the-classroom-but-have-to-check-their-smartphones-first\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">statewide phone ban<\/a>. Gothamist reporters checked in with teens across the district to see how they are adapting. Here&#8217;s how they are handling their disconnected days.<\/p>\n<p>Lower-tech life<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"3bmob\">Polaroids, walkie-talkies and decks of cards: New York City teens said these are some of the hot items circulating in schools now that the statewide smartphone ban is in effect.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"d8e39\">Alia Soliman, a senior at Bronx Science, said cards \u201care making a big comeback.\u201d She said kids are playing poker when they\u2019re done with their work in some classes. Fellow students reported a surge in Uno.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"80a99\">\u201cIt seems to be very fun and engaging,\u201d Soliman said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"brl2o\">She said members of the senior class are using vintage devices to capture memories and milestones.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"f26pk\">\u201cI\u2019ve seen some of my friends bring in digicams,\u201d Soliman said. \u201cA lot of people are bringing in Polaroids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"eieqv\">She\u2019s looking into whether an MP3 player would be allowed in school to listen to while she studies.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"dhisu\">\u201cI\u2019ll test the waters,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"820j3\">In Manhattan, Ethan Myer, a senior at Union Square Academy, said the ban is also helping kids get their steps in.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"58tjm\">\u201cMost people are just walking around the hall, because there&#8217;s not really much else to do,\u201d Myer said. &#8220;Some people are talking a bit more, which I guess was the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"43vq9\">Jem Bryant, a junior at Gramercy Arts High School, also near Union Square, is daydreaming more.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"argsp\">\u201cI \u200adon&#8217;t really have a lot of friends in classes,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cSo when they say \u2018do your classwork\u2019 and I&#8217;m already done, I literally just have to sit there and stare at the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"9u71h\">Soliman said she was opposed to the ban at first, and she\u2019s concerned that she won\u2019t be able to work on her college applications during downtime at school, but she sees some positives.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"ch5vc\">\u201cI\u2019m still not thrilled,\u201d she said. \u201cBut people are reading more. The younger kids are socializing more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"aacjn\">Peter Schmidt-Nowara, a teacher and dean at Brooklyn Tech, said the hallways and lunchroom are louder, in a good way.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"ejeeg\">\u201cIt was muted,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really lifted a pall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8ss2j\">He said it\u2019s a stark difference from last year, when kids were retreating to bathrooms for 20 minutes to check their phones, and walking through the halls with their heads down.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"jg98\">He added that he&#8217;s enjoyed watching students turn to unfamiliar technology.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"27q9h\">\u201cA group of boys brought in a transistor radio to listen to music. They didn\u2019t realize they had to lift the antenna, so I lifted it for them. The music wasn\u2019t that loud and it was quite sweet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Workarounds<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"amhuf\">No students interviewed by Gothamist copped to having burner phones of their own, but some said they knew of classmates deploying decoys.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"3iqjb\">\u201cNot to rat anyone out, but some people have fake phones,\u201d said Solangel Santana, a senior at Union Square Academy.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8618t\">She added that kids sometimes send each other emails or chat in Google Docs on their education department-issued devices.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"78q29\">\u201cWe find creative ways to talk to each other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"s4t\">Video app TikTok is rife with videos of kids breaking into pouches. \u201cThey slam it,\u201d said Esmeralda Jaramillo, a junior at Gramercy Arts.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"4lasb\">Soliman said students sometimes physically leave the building and go out into the courtyard for a phone break to play games or check messages during free periods or lunch. \u201cThe benches are always full,\u201d Soliman said.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8r82d\">Speaking at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx on Monday, Mayor Eric Adams said it\u2019s not the first time teenagers have tried to skirt the rules.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"4sbje\">\u201cThis is all part of their creative spirit and energy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe did it. Let&#8217;s not act like when we were in school, we didn&#8217;t have all our little tricks on how we got around things.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"cfuv4\">Adams made the comments at a press conference to announce the distribution of 350,000 internet-enabled Chromebooks, part of the city\u2019s effort to replace aging devices obtained during the pandemic, and ensure that all students have access to technology in schools even as their personal devices are banned.<\/p>\n<p><b>From bottlenecks to stampedes<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"b6n5t\">Schools have rolled out a range of strategies, with most schools either collecting phones at arrival and storing them in lockers or distributing magnetic pouches that have to be locked and unlocked at the beginning and end of the day.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"497t0\">Bryant at Gramercy Arts High School said of the end-of-day routine, \u201cThey\u2019ll be like, \u2018Single-file line,\u2019 but it will not be a single-file line and people will just bum-rush the magnets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"t5ih\">Students at LaGuardia High School reported long lines on the first few days of school.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"1sq60\">Laila Lawrence, 16, said students have been blamed for being late to class.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"bpbo4\">\u201cThe teachers are the first ones to complain, \u2018Oh, you were late, da da da da.\u2019 I&#8217;m like, \u2018I was on the line, like, what do you want me to do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"1gl3a\">But Lawrence&#8217;s views on the ban were mixed.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"ejdel\">\u201c\u200aI think it&#8217;s good and bad because phones are obviously a problem,\u201d she said. \u201cI&#8217;m not gonna say like I&#8217;m not addicted to my phone &#8217;cause I am, but at the same time I&#8217;m like no one in the school is like purposely on their phone in the middle of class.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City students are one week into the statewide phone ban. Gothamist reporters checked in with teens&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-218346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115186096932294805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}