Momentum grows for cell phone bans in schools

Cell phone bans for schools are surging across the country as educators and state lawmakers look to tackle learning loss and reduce distractions, but within the movement there are significant divisions.  

New York City, Los Angeles and the state of Virginia have all moved to forbid student phones from classrooms in recent weeks, despite some parental backlash on the measures.

Parents fear not being able to reach their children during a school shooting or other emergency, while the pesky problem of how to actually keep technology out of young hands poses a practical challenge.

“I think we have good science to show that banning cell phones in classrooms during class time is really important,” said Mitch Prinstein, chief science office for the American Psychological Association.  

“We know that because there’s no such thing as multitasking. We all are just engaging in task-shifting back and forth, and kids’ brains are not fully developed enough to be able to task-shift as well as adults,” Prinstein added. “So it’s really important for academic achievement that we have those cell phones out of the classroom.” 

Virginia is the latest to take action on phones in school after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) directed the state’s Department of Education to draft guidance for schools on creating policies “that establish the age-appropriate restriction or elimination of cell phone use during instructional time.” 

“This essential action will promote a healthier and more focused educational environment where every child is free to learn. Creating cell phone and social media-free educational environments in Virginia’s K-12 education system will benefit students, parents, and educators,” Youngkin said last week.

Other major metropolitan areas serving hundreds of thousands of students have also jumped on the wagon to create phone-free environments.  

New York City Public Schools is looking into policies on getting rid of phones, and the Los Angeles school board approved a policy to restrict the devices, although the details of how America’s two biggest cities will get the job done have not been finalized.  

Some are advocating for students not to have their phones at all throughout the school day. 

“There are many, many, many reasons why a class-time, instruction-time policy doesn’t work,” said Sabine Polak, co-founder of Phone-Free Schools Movement.  

Polak said a ban on phones only during class puts the burden on teachers to police classrooms, and that students are less likely to socialize face-to-face during lunch or other breaks if they have access to screens. Class-only bans also leave the phones available for illicit activities such as recording and taking photos, she said. 

A recent survey by Pew Research Center found 72 percent of high school teachers believe phones are a major distraction to students, though only 33 percent of middle school teachers and 6 percent of elementary educators feel the same way.

All-day bans have been undertaken by multiple school districts, with Renesha Parks, chief wellness officer at Richmond Public Schools in Virginia, previously telling The Hill her district invested in pouches designed for students to put their phones in when they arrive and which cannot be opened until the end of the day. 

“The phone can’t be left on the person unless it is in a locked pouch like a Yondr pouch,” Polak said. “We found that even if they are locked away in personal lockers, kids are still finding ways to leave the classroom in order to access their phones.”  

But others say the focus should be on class time, since it’s the most important for student focus.

“In general, we should be limiting the amount of time that kids are on social media. However, there is no research that says whether doing it in the three minutes before classes or doing it at home is any different or, you know, better or worse,” Prinstein said.  

While 82 percent of K-12 teachers say their school has a cell-phone policy, according to the June Pew Research survey, 30 percent of those educators say it is hard to enforce them.

Classroom-only bans would also help parents who fear not having access to their children during an emergency event, though advocates of cell phone bans argue such access could in fact increase the danger.

“As far as like big emergencies […] your child is more unsafe if they have their phone on them when there’s an emergency because their attention is distracted. They are not paying attention when their teachers are giving guidance on what they’re supposed to be doing because they are too worried about trying to text friends or family to let them know things are OK,” said Mileva Repasky, co-founder of Phone-Free Schools movement.  

As for students, Pew found 70 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds say there are more benefits than harms to phones, and 45 percent believe phones make it easier to do better in school.

And some land on the students’ side, arguing that even bans outside of class time are a step backward.  

“I take the opposite stance here, because I think that banning cell phones is, at best, a missed opportunity, and at worst, maybe not worse, but one of the more harmful results that I can predict is that it will actually produce a group of kids who aren’t prepared to be productive in society,” said Bill Salak, chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Brainly, an online education platform. 

“I would say this is a problem that should be solved on the spot, locally, at the most local level, so teachers reprimanding and escalating problems that are happening in their classrooms. Parents being more involved, parents being better educated and this is where schools and parents can connect, and schools can talk to parents about tools to install on your kid’s cell phone to limit their access to social media during school hours,” he added. “There’s all these tools that that if schools and parents are working together and they’re communicating like we’re going to have a better outcome than just using a giant hammer to say, ban all cell phone use in school.” 

—Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET