3 Ways to Teach Cell Phone Etiquette to High Schoolers

Many high schools have relaxed strict bans on student cellphones in recent years, and some have even embraced the devices as an instructional tool in the classroom.

New York City Schools, the largest school district in the country, will end its cellphone ban for students, Education Week reported this fall.

Officials from Princes George's County Public Schools in Maryland adopted a new cellphone policy earlier this year that permits the use of portable electronic devices during the school day under certain circumstances, the community's local publication, The Gazette reported.

"When cellphones first came out, the first response was to restrict them. Now they're beginning to see that this technology, if used correctly, can be a great educational tool," Earnest Moore, who was then president of the Prince George's County PTA Council, told the paper.

Students could use cellphones in the classroom to research information for assignments or by completing digital quizzes through apps, for example.

Get more ideas [on how teachers are using cell phones in the classroom.]

But whether teenagers know how to use the devices politely and appropriately is another issue. Parents and teachers can use these methods to teach students cellphone etiquette.

-- Model appropriate behavior: Teens do what they see, so parents need to display proper cellphone use to ensure their children follow their example.

"I can't tell my kids they can't have the phone while I have the phone," says Shelley Hunter, a California mom of three who works at home . Her daughter, Ally Kukuk,14, is a freshman in high school.

Hunter says she puts her two cellphones down while speaking with her children. If she is driving with her children in the car and receives a text message that needs a response, she'll ask her kids to respond for her.

"As much as that is annoying to them, I'm certain that they get the message that it's not OK to be driving and texting at the same time," she says.

Read about [how teens learn texting while driving from parents.]

-- Outline ground rules: In the classroom, teachers should establish expectations for cellphone use before they allow students to use them.

"You want to set up rules and structures and kind of make a social contract with the students about how devices are going to be used or not used," says Liz Kolb, a clinical assistant professor at The University of Michigan who wrote a guide for educators on using cellphones in the classroom.

One way for teachers to do this is by using the stoplight approach, she says. Teachers will have either a red, yellow or green sign on their door which lets students know immediately if they will be using their cellphones that day.

The Emily Post Institute, which specializes in promoting etiquette, offers a free downloadable cell phone manners tip sheet that teachers can display in the classroom.

-- Use real-world consequences: Teachers can discipline student cellphone offenders in a way that is similar to what might happen to working adults if they are caught scrolling through Instagram on their cellphones during a meeting.

One consequence might be having to apologize to everybody in the room, Kolb says, which could be especially socially embarrassing for a teenager.

"But it also reminds them that what they are doing is rude and it's distracting for others in the classroom, and that's not OK," she says. However, teachers should make sure students are aware that this will be a consequence before things happen, she says.

Hunter, the mom of three, says that she thinks most teens are aware of how to use a cellphone appropriately, but sometimes get tempted to break the rules.

"It's hard to navigate having this thing," she says, where there's the constant potential it has new information.

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Alexandra Pannoni is an education staff writer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com.