Academy Implements Firmer “HealthyUse Policy for Cellphones” on Campus

Seeking to improve student mental health and in person interactions, the Student Life Office (SLO) is implementing a new cell phone policy that restricts phone usage during the day.

On March 14, students received an email entitled “Deerfield’s Healthy Use Policy for cellphones - 2025-2026 school year.” The email outlined new rules for phone usage, including new phone confiscations for underclassmen during study hall, the extension of phone prohibition to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, and confiscated phones returned by the end of the next academic day. Under the updated policy, students will only have full access to their phones on the weekends, starting Friday night except in the dining hall. The new rule also includes an addition to a night policy where sophomore students will have to put their phones into the lockboxes the school introduced last year for the freshmen class.

The main purpose of the new cell phone policy was to encourage a “healthy use” of cellphones. The administration explained that “ongoing research continues to reveal a close relationship between excessive use of phones, and particularly social media, poor sleep, and higher risks for anxiety and depression.”

Head of School John Austin emphasized the importance of students putting down cellphones to get to know and interact with each other in his speeches. The revised policy continues Deerfield’s expansion of its core values while simultaneously attempting to address mental health and phones’ propensity to act as ‘experience blockers.’ The Student Handbook states that the cell phone policy is guided by the community priorities and two of Deerfield’s Core Values: “face-toface interactions characterized by joy and generosity of spirit” and “shared experiences, large and small, as sources of relationships, identity, and community.”

Members of the Deerfield community expressed anger, disappointment, but also joy with the new phone policy’s implementation. Uyi Inowan ’28 believed that “there should have been an open line of communication about extending the policy…when asking students about the phone policy it should stop being a good or bad question and more of a conversation of pros and cons.” Furthermore, he thought that “one year [of the night time phone policy] to me would’ve been enough.” Isaac Chen ’28 feels as though “the atmosphere of the campus as a whole feels more lively,” with the further implementation of the heads up ideology that Deerfield has adopted. He also talked about how much better it is to be at a school where everyone is not walking around on their phones.

Many initial concerns about the new cellphone policy and its impacts were quickly put to rest. “I was concerned with what it might do to the dorm space, but I have been pleasantly surprised by how the students have handled it,” said French Teacher Brian Hunt, a former Doubleday 2 resident who now resides on Scaife 1.

Students with concerns about the new policy are encouraged to contact Ms. Creagh. “[Ms.] Creagh cares first and foremost about your well-being and is somebody who is willing to listen to students,” Dr. Hunt added.

While the new phone policy may have generated controversy and division among the community as of this moment, the administration explains that more time is needed in order to fully see the effects that the new phone policy has on the community.