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Buxton is Going Smartphone-Free!

Written on . Posted in Social Media

AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT MOVE - AND ONE THAT IS (SHOCKINGLY) ABSENT FROM US BOARDING SCHOOLS. Junior boarding schools do a great job with technology, but 9-12 schools fall short. Administrative policies: "we let students navigate"/"we want them to teach themselves"/etc. are failures, exhibiting a glaring oversight of mental health. Cell phone usage is addictive for all ages, and especially for teenage brains. FaceBook, Instagram, TikTok etc. are purposefully designed to increase user engagement rates.  Smartphones are destructive to a campus community, which all schools are quick to say is the "most important and distinguishing factor".  Smoking rooms were were phased out in the 80s - let's hope similar restrictions follow on this equally addictive "drug".

 

 

 

 

Creating Our Community, Choosing Our Tools

When Ellen Geer Sangster started Buxton almost a hundred years ago, it was to provide something missing from the mainstream culture around her. Something more humane, more conducive to the growth and wellbeing of the young adults she served. At Buxton we love imagining and then creating the best possible environment we can for learning, growing, and building community. That’s why starting next school year, we will no longer allow smartphones on campus.
 
We didn’t come to this decision quickly or lightly, but we embrace it wholeheartedly. We are excited by it. The list of reasons is long and familiar to all of us at this point. Constant access to everyone and everything—pinged directly into our pockets, into our ears, onto our wrists—is not helping us to know and love ourselves, know and love each other. It doesn’t give anyone any space, time, or quiet—all essential aspects of the wellbeing that we are trying to cultivate here. Mental and emotional wellbeing, absolutely. But also: intellectual wellbeing, creative wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and social wellbeing. The fundamental structure of Buxton is that we are a community of fewer than a hundred people, living together face-to-face in our corner of the Berkshire mountains. Deeply, purposefully, here, now, in person. Can you imagine a technology less conducive to that project?
Of course, Buxton is not an island. It is firmly in this world, not apart from it, and should never pretend otherwise. But that doesn’t mean it should be exactly the same as what’s outside these hundred acres. Indeed, if it were exactly the same, there’d be no reason for it to exist. We have always tried to do something different here, build something different. We have tried to make a purposeful space, an intentional community, where people can truly see themselves and each other.
 
We’re not worried that thirty-two weeks a year without a smartphone will leave anyone less prepared for anything. Indeed, we believe the opposite is true. The best preparation for anything—any college, any career, any life—is to know yourself well, and to know how to be in community. When you know your own values, ethics, aesthetics, mind, and heart, then you are ready for any kind of world.
 
Consciously setting aside a technology that’s not helping us is a step forward, not a step backward. We’re not idealizing or trying to recreate the past at Buxton. We’re helping shape its future, and the futures of the communities around us. Just like we have for the last hundred years, just like we hope to for a hundred more.
 
Sincerely,
Peter Beck, Head of School
Franny Shuker-Haines, Director Emeritus
The Buxton Faculty
The Buxton Board of Trustees
P.S. Three important questions and answers—and we are sure there will be many more as we help craft this policy and environment together!
 
Q: Teachers, too?
A: Yes! This is something we feel will benefit the entire community, teachers very much included. We won’t be bringing smartphones to Buxton, either (or taking them out of our homes if we live on campus). Trust us, we need the change as much as anyone!
 
Q: Will non-smart phones be allowed?
A: Yes! Flip phones, light phones, and other non-internet-enabled phones are definitely still allowed. And if by next year you’re looking to get a non-smart phone and monetary considerations are an obstacle, we can help with financial aid.  
 
Q: Will computers and the internet be allowed?
A: Yes! We’ll still have internet on campus, and students can and should still have computers. Especially when living together in a small community in the woods, access to all our online communities, hobbies, and networks remains important—just not all the time and everywhere. (Not to mention we’ll still want computers and the internet for research and academic work!)
 
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