Q&A With Ms. Fetting: Phone Ban

By: Brynn B.’26 and Alice L. ‘25

A hot topic across the Bryn Mawr community, the phone ban is usually met by an array of reactions, questions, and comments from teachers and students alike. To better understand the process that went behind this decision, The Quill sat down with Upper School Director Emily Fetting for a brief Q&A to ask a few questions that may be on students’ minds.

Q: Have you seen any other schools enact a phone ban similar to this one, and if you have, what effects have you seen?

A: Back in June, Bryn Mawr and Roland Park administrators went to a conference sponsored by the ICGS (International Coalition of Girls’ Schools). There, Agnes Irwin, a school similar to Bryn Mawr, gave a presentation about the results - what has worked and hasn’t - of their previous school year where they had moved towards a phone-free campus. For example, they didn’t want to create antagonistic relationships with students so they wouldn’t go around taking students' phones if they had them or giving them a lot of punishments and that really resonated with the Tri-Schools. We want this to become something that feels like there is a lot of community buy-in, and I realize that it will take some time to get there.

Q: Some students have expressed concerns over safety, because without phones students will be unable to contact security or 911 if the situation requires. How do you plan to keep students safe without them being able to reach out for help, especially when traveling to coordinate classes?

A: The first thing I would say is that in an emergency situation, it is actually safest for people to not be on their cell phones. Cell phones can be distracting in terms of drawing attention away from whoever is giving instructions on what to do, creating sounds in situations that require silence, and being problematic when it brings large crowds of people to campus, making it harder for security personnel to arrive. Now, this doesn’t mean that there is no role for a phone in an emergency. The other Tri-School administrators and I are talking about having security guards on the bridges and a phone in every space of the campuses. It’s interesting because a lot of these efforts we are talking about were in place when I was a student. We didn’t have cell phones, and we were still traveling to coordinate classes through the use of office phones and being clear on who to access for help. 

Q: Do you think students not being responsible for regulating their own cell phone usage in high school could affect their self-control in college or post-high school life when there are no restrictions on it?

A: I think it’s really important for us to help students learn how to self-manage their cell phone usage. It’s something that, as I’m sure you know, adults struggle with too. This is why we’re also asking teachers to get into the spirit of this by only using their phones for attendance and emergencies. I think if there aren’t opportunities for us to practice separating ourselves from our phones now, we won’t be able to develop the skills needed to live comfortably without them later on. It takes some intentional effort to create these good habits now, including navigating a social life, handling difficult emotions, and creating inter-personal connections without using your phone. It’s very easy to use your phone as a crutch or a distraction, which we are trying to teach students to avoid.

Q: What changes are you hoping to see within the Bryn Mawr community, and what changes have you seen so far?

A: This all centers around student well-being and mental health, so we are really trying to help students decouple from their phones. Hopefully, this will allow them to be more present in a school community and more present with each other. As we know, constant access to social media can lead to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, and isolation, which we hope to prevent. In my convocation, I mentioned that when people are on their phones they are alone together, and we really want our community to be together together.

Q: How would you respond to parents who do not approve of their children not having a cell phone to contact them with during the school day?

A: Well, it seems like the most common concern is how to reach students during the school day if there is an issue. We are working on a system that will allow parents to quickly get in contact with their children throughout the day do not have all of the details planned out for that yet, but we are thinking very strategically about how this will work. We’re kind of going back to the old days when students would come to the office and get on the phone with their parents if the situation required. It’s really important to us that Bryn Mawr isn’t seen as this fortress where parents can’t get in touch with us, so we are thinking about different ways for them to be able to reach us. 

Q: What do you think will be/are the biggest challenges to implementing the phone ban? How do you plan to address them?

A: I think there are two big challenges. One is the literal buy-in from students, and whether or not they are complying with this initiative. We hope we won’t need to, but we may have to follow up with students who haven’t turned their phones in or are using them when they shouldn’t be. We don’t want to create an antagonistic relationship between students and faculty, but that really will be the hardest part. The other challenge is students who aren’t necessarily getting into the spirit of this change, or not understanding yet the value in it. Over time, I do think students will be more supportive of it, but initially, it will be tough.

Q: What is one thing that you would tell students that are against the phone ban?

A: I want students to know that even if it might not feel this way now, this is something that we truly believe - and that research has shown - will make their days better, that will make them feel better. It will help them feel more connected to the people in the community and develop confidence and problem-solving skills. I’m not saying that we didn’t have them before, but these skills and relationships will be so much richer and dynamic. Can you trust that we are looking out for your best interests and that we believe that this is something that will really make your day a lot better?

Q: Some students, especially seniors, are a bit disappointed because they won’t be able to document their last school year using their phones. How do you think a phone-free school could help create lasting memories without phones?

A: As you probably know, we’ve got a lot of people around campus taking pictures, so we will be capturing as much as we can from a staff perspective. But the other thing that was interesting is that I was just talking to Ms. Connors, the art teacher, and she was ordering thirty or forty digital cameras for her classroom for a project. And so what I can see happening is us going back in time and using different kinds of technology like having a bunch of polaroids, digital cameras, and disposable cameras around so people can grab them to use.

We hope that this conversation provides context to the decision her and the Tri-School administration came together to make. Ms. Fetting hopes that students will recognize that the phone ban is not a punishment but rather an effort to bring the Bryn Mawr community closer together than ever before.