A New Era at GZAAT: The First Week Without Phones

For years, phones have been a familiar part of everyday life at the Guivy Zaldastanishvili American Academy Tbilisi. Students could bring their phones to school, but they were expected to place them in designated boxes before class and retrieve them during breaks. Now, for the first time in the school’s history, that routine has changed.

Following new regulations, students are required to put their phones away at the beginning of the first period and will not have access to them again until the end of the school day. For a school where technology has long been part of both academic and social life, the change has raised an important question: What will GZAAT look like without phones?

The answer depends on who you ask.

For junior Giorgi Mgeladze, the announcement came as an unwelcome surprise. “I mean, just like every other student, I was extremely unhappy,” Giorgi said. He explained that he had expected the Academy’s status as a private school might allow it to continue with its previous policy. Although he initially felt anxious about how the school would change, Giorgi believes students will eventually adapt. 

“If you look around right now, there are not that many people sitting on their phones,” he said. “I don't think break is going to be that much different from what it was before.” 

One of Giorgi’s concerns, however, is missing important messages and updates throughout the school day. Ultimately, Giorgi would prefer the Academy’s previous system to remain. In his view, the new restrictions remove an option that students have become accustomed to having.

“I think that technology has become such a big part of the modern world,” he said. “For a school that is aspiring to be progressive and connected to its younger students, I think it is very inadequate to ban something that has become a regular thing that every single person uses and needs in their life.”

Junior Elene Shetekauri also has concerns about the new policy, particularly its potential effect on classroom activities.

According to Elene, teachers previously had the ability to decide when phones were appropriate for academic purposes. Under the new system, students may have fewer opportunities to use their phones when they could be useful for learning.

“I believe that the phone policy won't be beneficial for the school because this school needs technology in the lessons,” Elene said. “I think that it will make the lessons less productive, because students won't be able to access their phones.”

Elene also expects the change to affect students outside the classroom. Finding friends during breaks, communicating with classmates and organizing plans could become more difficult without immediate access to a phone.

Sophomore Elene Tsakadze had a similar reaction when she first heard about the new policy. Her main question was why the existing restrictions on phone use during lessons were not considered sufficient.

“My first thought was that it was really unnecessary because students were already not allowed to use phones during class,” Elene said. “I didn’t understand why they needed to take them away for lunch and breaks as well.”

She was also concerned about communication between students and their families. Without access to their phones throughout the day, she initially worried that reaching parents when necessary could become more complicated.

“I thought that we would have trouble communicating with our parents and found it useless,” she said.

Like the other students interviewed, Elene does not expect the policy to produce a major change in how students interact. She argues that students were already communicating with one another despite having access to their phones.

“I don’t think that the environment will change that much or that it will help us communicate better because we weren’t that dependent on phones,” she said. “We still communicated.”

Elene also raised the possibility that students might turn to laptops instead, since they remain permitted. She believes this could affect shared spaces such as the library.

“I think during lunch breaks the library will be too crowded, and it will cause chaos with all the laptops kids bring, since they are permitted,” she said.

While the students interviewed expressed concerns about the policy, history teacher Sandro Mikelashvili sees potential benefits, particularly for social interaction.

“In my opinion, it is more good than bad, because it will promote a deeper social interaction among the children,” he said.

He described a familiar scene in many school hallways: students sitting together while looking at their individual screens. He believes removing phones from that environment could encourage students to talk to people they might not normally interact with.

“I think that after this policy, these kids will get to know each other better—not only within the same class, but students from different classes with each other,” he said. “And, as a school, we will come together more as one community.”

For Sandro Mikelashvili, the policy also raises broader questions about students’ relationship with technology. He believes that learning to use technology without becoming overly dependent on it is an important challenge.

“We are living in the era of technology and devices,” he said. “I think that time will simply show us how we will manage not to become dependent on technology on one hand, but at the same time use technology for our own benefit.”

The new policy changes more than where students keep their phones. It introduces a different routine for students who have become accustomed to accessing their devices throughout the school day.

The interviews reveal a clear divide in how members of the GZAAT community expect that change to play out. Students raise concerns about communication, convenience, technology in education and whether removing phones will actually make them more social. Meanwhile, some see the same policy as an opportunity for students to step away from their screens and strengthen face-to-face relationships.

The policy also raises practical questions. Will students use laptops more frequently during breaks? Will the library become busier? Will students spend more time interacting face-to-face, or will their daily routines remain largely unchanged?

The answers may become clearer as the school community adjusts to the new rules. For now, the policy’s effects remain uncertain, and its impact on lessons, breaks, communication, and social interaction will take time to assess.

Edited by Ana Akhvlediani