We’ve all seen the phone caddies in classrooms, some of us for the first time. These caddies are part of the overarching “Take a Break” Campaign at Brebeuf. This campaign debuted last year, and this year it’s supposed to be stronger than before. 

The value of this campaign is apparent, as studies have shown that kids, specifically teenagers, today have increasingly high screen time. Additionally, social media platforms are becoming more harmful to students both academically and mentally. But, is this campaign actually working so far?

Different members of the student body and staff feel differently. Marissa Baker ‘24, a junior at Brebeuf, says she sees the value in the campaign, but doesn’t think it’s very effective. She says its effect “depends on the teacher” and points out that “there’s still laptops and people can play games and text on those.”

Karrington Payne ‘25, a sophomore at Brebeuf, feels that the campaign is not working at all. She says she doesn’t think there’s really a value “because everything you can do on your phone you can do on your computer.” She says it doesn’t really affect her because she’s “not really on [her] phone that much” anyway. 

It seems that while students understand the reasons behind the Campaign, they don’t think it’s making an impact.