The Game of Phone Jail [Youth Ministry & Getting My Middle School Education Degree]

“Can you please put your phone away?” “Please put your phone away.” “I need the phone put away.” “The phone should be off and away.” “Off and away.” “Phone. Away.” 

At the school I am student teaching at, students can’t have their phones out during class at all. So this is basically what I say all day long. All. Day. Long. ALLDAYLONG. 

Keeping this in mind, I want to tell you about my student. We’ll call her “P.” 

P doesn’t like to do anything besides scroll during class. 

She’s got a big personality. 

She loves to say words I won’t ever write on the Internet. 

She’s got a ton of influence in the classroom. 

She’s great at getting everyone off task. She’s also great at leading the class by example when she is able to focus. 

But the bottom line is, this girl loves to scroll, TikTok, and IG throughout the entire class. And it is totally affecting not only her learning, but other students in the classroom.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night last week, and like any teacher brain would, I started thinking about how to minimize the phone issue with P. That’s when I thought of phone jail, but more of a challenge with some incentives instead of just “jail” for your phone. 

P would have to put her phone in a cup or a bin, in her sight, and see how long she can go without touching her phone. Each time we try this, she would be trying to beat her best time. When she beats her time, she gets candy or a snack from our class prize box. 

I shared this idea with P this week, and asked her if we could try it, and to my surprise she immediately agreed to it. She was even a little bit excited about it. 

So today we tried phone jail. I had her place her phone in a cup where she could still see it, with notifications set on Do Not Disturb so it wouldn’t light up. I started the stopwatch on my phone when she put it in the cup. 

For it being the first time we tried, my goal was 5 minutes MAX. Surely she wouldn’t be able to make it more than that. 

She made it 20 minutes, and then reached for her phone. I caught her reaching for it, she quickly checked it, and placed it back in the cup. She said she wanted to try again. 

And then she made it ONE HOUR WITHOUT TOUCHING HER PHONE. 

I WAS SHOCKED. 

From what I hear, this girl had yet to make it through a class this YEAR without touching her phone. But it seems like this girl is also up for a challenge. 

Did she get a ton of work done because her phone wasn’t in her hand the whole time? Nope. Not at all. Not even close. 

But was she off her phone for a total of 80 minutes during a 90 minute class period? YES. 

And was she just a little more engaged and interested in what we were working on? ALSO YES. 

Today, phone jail worked for P. Will it work on Friday when I have her again? Maybe, but maybe not. But today it worked and I’m celebrating that small win! 

If you’re a middle school teacher or a youth pastor: 

How do you handle students using their phones during class (teachers) or during your weekly gathering (youth pastors)? What works? What doesn’t? I need your suggestions because I have plenty of other students to tackle this issue with!