Mobile phones: integral part of modern life or moral evil? We've seen the negative effects that mobile use has had on sleep, on relationships and on relationships in recent years, and now we're seeing mobile phones affect sports teams. Coaches have been grappling with the extent of the presence that mobile phones should have in dressing rooms, both on match days and during training during the week. Many are debating whether or not to bring in mobile phone breaks.
Over in the NFL, new Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury has said he'll be introducing a rather novel approach to mobile phone use for his players. Kingsbury is one of the NFL's youngest coaches at age 39 and as such has a more open-minded approach to mobile phone use for his players. Speaking at this week's NFL Owners meetings, Kingsbury announced that he is planning to allow his players to have '20-30 minute' mobile phone breaks during team meetings.
Kingsbury comes to the NFL from Texas Tech university, where he coached digital natives who simply cannot imagine life without their phones.
“I think coming from the college ranks, to obviously, those young men, it’s gotta be quick hitters, 20 minutes at a time, give them a break and get them back in. We want to make sure that when we have them, they’re focused and they’re locked in, and we’re maximising their time. So, if we’ve got to split it up or have shorter meetings, that’s what we do.”
NFL teams spent huge chunks of the day studying and reviewing film, so it's fascinating to see Kingsbury admit that he thinks his players need little bursts of phone time in order stave off distraction. He spoke directly of the physical effects of social media addition on his players:
“You start to see kind of hands twitching and legs shaking and you know they need to get that social media fix, so we’ll let ’em hop over there and then get back in the meeting and refocus,” Kingsbury said.
