A young girl with pink streaks in her hair scrolls through glow-ups on TikTok while classmates debate the characteristics of the 13 original British colonies. Another student scans Instagram Reels while his geometry teacher explains how to find the asymptote of a hyperbola. And two teenagers battle in the virtual world of Clash Royale … in classroom after classroom in Hawaii.

The argument is over a decade old: Cellphones make us less focused, less productive and more depressed. Psychologists, education researchers and even politicians routinely present data on the effects of usage on cognitive capacities and social-emotional health. What’s worse, new research suggests that, like drug addiction, withdrawal symptoms amplify negative emotions. Any teacher or parent who has taken a phone away from a student can attest to that.

But this issue is not unique to our keiki. The scenarios above mirror what you see everywhere; people on their cells in meetings, during Zoom calls with phones just out of camera view, or even when sitting across from each other in restaurants around town.

We instruct kids on the problems associated with cell addiction, but their addiction echoes our own. They reflect what they see, after all; that’s why modeling is such a powerful teaching strategy.

And when the pandemic crash-landed on Earth, our reliance on tech ballooned. Now, many parents and educators seem resigned to its permanence in our lives.

But normalizing addiction isn’t the solution; for children and adolescents, the issue manifests in devastating ways.

What began as a mental health concern is becoming a mental health crisis, with young people experiencing severe dissociation, isolation and focusing issues.

Local data on tech addiction support data from national studies. In 2021, the Hawaii Department of Education administered the Panorama Social-Emotional Learning Survey, which showed that our students feel increasingly disconnected. Despite the credentials of survey designers, critics argue the data is flawed because of response bias and wording concerns.

Still, conversations with students support the idea that they feel disconnected, like they don’t “belong.” Of course, it’s not surprising they feel this way after two years of mandated social distancing and canceled extracurricular events. But the effects linger on, and maybe an increased reliance on tech should share top billing.

Educators cannot begin to address the problems linked to cellphone usage unless we partner with families, so that healthy use is modeled and monitored in the classroom and at home.

In my classroom, students are routinely reminded to use phones only when doing academic-related activities that require tech. I never pick up my cell during a lesson unless there’s an emergency; in fact, I try never to use it during the school day.

But a teacher’s strategy only works if everyone in the school enforces the same guidelines. It also won’t work unless families join the discussion, share concerns and challenges at home, and collaborate on solutions.

Rewiring works when we’re all in it together.