The numbers worrying the education system: how the smartphone is taking over students
Students are obsessed with smartphones: 18% of them testify that they often forget to perform tasks because they were busy with it. 22% of teenagers say they are immersed in their phone even while spending time with friends. The ORT network identifies damage to attention and mental health and is launching a program with students and teachers to reduce phone usage.
Alarming data and a plan to reduce smartphone usage among students: every fifth student (18%) testifies that they often forget or do not perform tasks because they "were busy with the smartphone." This emerges from a survey conducted among thousands of students in the ORT network that examined smartphone and screen usage and their implications for the students' level of attention. The survey also highlights deep mental and emotional consequences: 22% of students feel real restlessness when the device is not within their reach. Furthermore, 10% of teenagers report real difficulty in concentrating on learning and writing assignments due to the urge to use their smartphone.
99% of students in the ORT network own their own smartphone. When asked when they received their first personal device, 14% said before elementary school, 37% in 1st-2nd grade, 34% in 3rd-4th grade, and 9% in 5th-6th grade. Only 5% received a smartphone once they were already in middle school.
Fighting for the attention of students and teachers
The ORT network, in collaboration with the "Attention Revolution" movement, has decided to fight for the attention of students and teachers. The goal is to reduce the use of smartphones and screens and deal with the challenges of digital distractions. Each school chooses its own path—formulating school charters that define when and how to use the smartphone, emotional workshops, and redesigning classrooms.
The survey, conducted among about 2,500 ORT students, reveals a disturbing picture of the depth of digital dependency. 71% of students estimate that they spend more than 5 hours every day in front of a smartphone, while 43% testify that they spend more than 8 hours a day in front of screens (including television, computer, etc.). 55% answered that their main use of the device is social networks (TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.). A third of teenagers (32%) admit that they use the smartphone for longer than they planned.
How "addicted" are they? 22% of teenagers testified that they use the smartphone while spending time with friends or at social events. A third (33%) admit that they prefer to distract themselves with the smartphone to avoid dealing with unpleasant emotions. 39% testified that their use of the screen helps them feel better.
"We identify damage to attention, mental health, interpersonal relationships, and sometimes an exacerbation of polarization and disconnection from the real world," explains ORT network CEO Raz Frohlich. "Our role as an educational network is to teach teenagers to control technology, and not to be managed by it. Therefore, we launched a pilot of an attention-enhancing process. From every school participating in the program, we ask for real commitment—appointing a lead coordinator, participation of management and staff in joint meetings, and systematic mapping of the situation. Each school builds an intervention program that fits its community, because we believe that local management knows the needs of its school best."
Teachers also need to learn what it's like without a cell phone
According to Frohlich, this is a complex move: "Many parents, and rightly so, want to know that their child is available to them at any moment, and this is a natural resistance that we must respect and work with. This is a year-and-a-half process, because real change in school culture requires time, trust, and gradualness. But its meaning goes beyond the borders of the individual school; we see in increasing attention a real contribution to the resilience and unity of Israeli society as a whole."
Asaf Bener, CEO of the Attention Revolution movement, explains: "The Attention Revolution is a social change organization working to ensure that the benefits of using technology outweigh the disadvantages and risks inherent in unbalanced use. Our joint action with the network's managers constitutes a pioneering act for all high schools in the country to realize the global trend of promoting beneficial screen use."
