An Arizona high school biology teacher was so upset about his students’ constant smartphone use in the classroom that he spent his final week of teaching.
Mitchell Rutherford of Saguaro High School Local Tucson NBC affiliate Earlier last week, he said he had been doing all he could to help students break their “addiction” to mobile phones but had now given up.
“My mental health has been struggling this year, mainly due to students’ addiction to their phones,” Rutherford told the news station.
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An Arizona teacher is quitting his job after becoming frustrated with students refusing to put down their cell phones in class. (Getty Images)
Last Thursday was his last day as a public school teacher of 11 years, 35. Rutherford said he has adopted different lesson plans over the past few years to make his students understand the harms of frequent mobile phone use in their daily lives.
“Here’s an extra challenge: Check your screen time and create habits. Have a unit on sleep, why it’s important, and how to cut down on your phone use as a pre-bedtime routine. We talk about it every day and we’ve created a basket called ‘phone jail,'” he said, giving examples of all the things he’s been trying to implement.
Rutherford likened excessive cell phone use to drug addiction, arguing it’s even worse than substance addiction or sugar addiction.
“Opioids are obviously a big problem, cocaine, heroin, all the other drugs, alcohol, they’re all big problems, but sugar is even more of a problem, cell phones are even more of a problem,” he said.
In a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, the educator said she has witnessed the issue worsen during the COVID-19 pandemic and that “something has changed” among kids.
In studies conducted over the past few years, Pandemic Learning Loss This has had a significant, negative impact on the education, skill levels and productivity of K-12 students across the country.
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An Arizona high school teacher said he thinks his students have become even more obsessed with their phones during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Getty Images)
As he saw the problem grow, “I began to think I was the problem,” Rutherford told the outlet, adding that some students made it clear they weren’t interested in school.
But he doesn’t entirely blame the kids, telling local media that society needs to help children develop better habits.
“As a society, we need to prioritize educating and protecting young people and allowing their brains, social skills and well-being to develop naturally without mobile phones,” Rutherford said.
teacher He told the WSJ He’s ready to pursue a new career path, including working at an online college prep school or enrolling in a job-training program, but he worries the decision means he’s “abandoning” his students.
“I feel like I’m abandoning my kids,” he said, adding, “I always tell them to do hard things and now I’m quitting? But I decided to try something else that wasn’t so engrossing and consuming.”
Rutherford did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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