CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Cedar Rapids pediatrician is calling for local high schools to ban their students from using cell phones.

A 2023 survey shows that teens spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media apps. Dr. Padget Skogman of Mercy in Cedar Rapids says there’s a way to ease some of that pressure. “Even between 2018 and 2024, the number of visits for anxiety and mental health issues that we see in the pediatrician’s office is so different,” says Dr. Skogman.

Skogman and her friend Lindsay McGrath say that as mothers, they want to help young people, starting in school. “I think they deserve an education and an experience in middle and high school where they can, you know, socialize and be part of this community,” says McGrath, a mother of three.

McGrath says the difference smartphones make in school is clear, even with her younger children. “It’s so, so surprising that even my 9-year-old, almost all of his friends, have some form of phone or smartphone,” McGrath says. “My 11-year-old, we go to events with, you know, different people, teammates, whatever, and they might all be sitting around at a lunch spot looking at their phones and he has nothing to see. And immediately, especially in the last year, I noticed that he’s being left out of these conversations.”

According to Skogman, the idea of ​​banning smartphones from classrooms altogether was based on one of four principles outlined in a book called The Anxious Generation.

“I wrote a petition urging our schools to lock cell phones during the school day and not just say, hey, leave it in your locker because then they’ll still check it between classes. But actually make it so you hand it in in the morning and get it back at the end of the day,” says Skogman. Dozens of other local pediatricians have already joined in. Now Skogman is taking his proposal directly to school districts.

“We are currently working on hopefully forming a Metro Task Force with all the schools in the area, so Linn Mar, Prairie, Marion, Cedar Rapids School District,” says Skogman. She has already met with the heads of several schools, including CRCSD.

Skogman and McGrath hope their idea will spark conversations with local families, teachers and school staff and encourage parents to reach out to local school authorities.

“It’s our future generation, so what is their ability to communicate and engage and what impact is this going to have in 10, 15 or 20 years if we don’t try to do something now to thwart it,” McGrath says.

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