School's rogue bathroom move to stop students doing one thing

"Students visit the restroom seven or eight times a day. Some were asking to go more frequently and staying for upwards of five minutes," the school told families.

Who would have thought a school bathroom would make the perfect backdrop for content creation? Well, apparently students do. So much so that one school is taking away bathroom mirrors to curb students wasting time in there to make videos.  

A middle school in North Carolina has taken the unusual approach as an attempt to reduce social media use during school hours.

Southern Alamance Middle School public relations officer Les Atkins explained the eyebrow-raising decision to local station WFMY.

"Students were going to the bathroom for long periods and making TikTok videos," he said, adding that school officials had observed students using bathrooms seven or eight times a day and, in many cases, during class.

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RELATED: The kids are not ok: NSW schools begin mobile phone ban

No more bathroom visits

After the school removed bathroom mirrors, Atkins said they noticed: "Not as many visits to the bathroom, not staying as long, and students are held accountable—and then when there’s accountability, you see a great difference."

According to the school, the parents' safety concerns stopped them from banning phones altogether. So, the next best thing was to remove the mirrors - where much of the content creation took place. 

Finding a way to get kids focused on school and off social media is a problem that doesn’t have an easy solution, especially given kids' heavy reliance on their phones.

"Some teachers also used phones as part of assignments. If the student had one and wanted to use it, the school wished to instill a sense of 'digital citizenship' and encourage students to use their devices responsibly, rather than confiscating them," said Atkins. 

The school has also implemented a new "digital hall pass system" to help track the general whereabouts of students throughout the day.

According to the school, bathroom visits have significantly reduced, which has, in theory, stopped students from creating the content when they should be learning. 

"Since removing the mirrors, we have seen a drastic decrease in bathroom visits from students asking to be excused just to make videos," Atkins said. 

One schools extreme measures to stop content creation during school times. Source:TikTok

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Phones are for their safety

Parents and social media users support the school's approach, noting that there are too many distractions for middle school students. 

A mother of a 12-year-old boy wrote: "Am I the only mean parent of a middle schooler who won’t let them have a smartphone?"

She added that her son is using a Nokia, which "has prevented a lot of issues." She added, "Why does a kid need anything more than the ability to place a phone call during an emergency while at school?" 

Another parent said, "Middle school-age kids have no reason to even need a phone at school. It’s one big distraction." 

"I’m not saying they can’t have a phone. It should be treated as a reward or privilege rather. Give it to them when they get home from school as a reward for working hard at school. Problem solved," they said. 

Other social media users offered their solutions, with one suggesting, "I know a substitute that has the rule that in order to go to the bathroom, they have to turn in their phone. They get it back when they return." 

Will the bathroom mirror ban come to Australia?

Schools across Australia have implemented phone bans to help students focus and reduce stress and bullying. Limiting phone usage to before and after school rather than during school hours has meant school grounds aren't being used for content on the scale seen in the US.

Originally published as School's rogue bathroom move to stop students doing one thing