"We changed childhood without realising and we're living the consequences"

Jonno Wood, Manager of Bath Rugby Foundation’s Alternative Learning Hub and Founder of Same Boat Parents, speaks out on the Crisis of Isolation and the significance of using phone lock boxes with our students

"We changed childhood without realising and we're living the consequences" says Jonno Wood Manager of Bath Rugby Foundations Alternative Learning Hub and Founder of Same Boat Parents. The signs were there all along. By 2018 Jonno was seeing an ever increasing number of mental health referrals for students and more shockingly the services he had always relied on seemed overwhelmed with waiting lists where there had never been ones before.

“COVID caused us to miss it,” says Jonno. He recalls how education practitioners were starting to question what was happening, only for the pandemic to strike. When lockdowns lifted, the crisis had worsened. Students weren’t returning to school.

Jonno identifies smartphones as the root cause. Speaking to over 100 parents at a Bristol school next month about the Crisis of Isolation, he highlights how data from the Office of National Statistics and various studies show a steep decline in young people’s mental health starting between 2012 and 2014. This downward trend continues, unaffected by the pandemic, and mirrors declines in self-worth and hopefulness.

Jonno explains that the Crisis of Isolation is fuelled by three key factors linked to excessive smartphone use:

1. Negative comparison: Young people are bombarded with negative comparison and a mis-representation of social reality.
2. Reduced face-to-face interaction: A lack of in-person socialisation delays emotional development.
3. Sacred individuality: An online world which makes the individual sacrosanct leading to a lack of perspective.

These factors create a generation overloaded with anxieties. “Their stress cup is full,” says Jonno, “and they’re overwhelmed by things we once took for granted.” The results are evident: rising school suspensions, out-of-control rates of persistent absenteeism, and record numbers of children missing in education.

Jonno’s team at the Alternative Learning Hub came up with solutions. “First, we banned phones in the classroom by using lock-boxes in the hallway, and it was like playing a different ball game,” he recalls. Overnight, phone-related incidents disappeared, and smiles and laughter returned. “What shocked us most was how willing the students were to comply,” Jonno says. Encouraged, they introduced more student-led activities, empowering students to set and enforce their own rules. Attendance soared, and previously disengaged students began thriving in lessons.

The science supports these observations. Adolescence (ages 10-21) is a critical period for social learning, which happens through face-to-face interactions and problem-solving without adult intervention. Smartphones have replaced these essential experiences with relentless negative comparisons, fostering feelings of shame.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Jonno is optimistic. “We got here by accident, but the solutions are simple. We need to get teens off their phones and into social situations with their peers. It’s an old formula, but it works.”

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If you’ve been affected by the Crisis of Isolation or have further questions, you can contact Jonno Wood at Bath Rugby Foundation: [email protected]