By Michaela Gordoni
The Parents Television and Media Council reports that every U.S. state has made some effort to curb classroom cell phone use.
“During the past school year, every U.S. state has recognized that children and teens shouldn’t have cellphone access during school and have made strides to reduce or eliminate their use. Cellphones have had a detrimental impact on children during the school day. We are glad to see this nationwide pivot toward comprehensive, statewide regulation,” said Melissa Henson, vice president, Parents Television and Media Council, in a press release.
Between fall 2024 and now, over 30 states passed policies. Some are “bell-to-bell,” meaning phones are restricted throughout the entire day, and others are classroom only.
Everyone has caught on to the fact that cellphones decrease student performance and increase classroom distractions. The Parents Television and Media Council provided data from various studies, showing the importance of cellphone restriction policies. High school teachers are the most likely to say phone classroom use is a major issue and students who use phones for non-academic use in class have worse end-of-term exams.
Restricting phones has other benefits besides better focus and better grades — KFF reports it helps prevent cyberbullying, depression and other mental health side effects. It also increases teacher morale.
“Cellphones in classrooms are digital distractions and they’ve enabled children to be exposed to sexually explicit and graphically violent content, to the weaponization of tech, to powerful algorithms that feed harmful content to users. States are right to push back and take steps to curb cellphone use in schools. With this growing momentum, we expect this to be an upward trend,” Henson said.
Related: America’s 2nd-largest School District Bans Cellphones and Social Media
While restricting phones has many benefits, some parents are concerned about having limited contact with their kids.
“Shortly after we sent out communication to students and parents [about the ban] — that’s when the uproar began. We were getting inundated with phone calls. Parents were going to their City Council; complaints got all the way up to the superintendent’s office,” said Philadelphia’s Kensington High School principal Jose Lebron. “You would have thought the world was going to end.”
“They say, ‘If something happens, my child needs to get in contact with me,’” he added.
It’s understandable that kids safety would be a top concern, but experts say kids having a phone during events like school shootings doesn’t keep them safe.
“There’s been no evidence whatsoever that having smartphones protects kids from school shootings, pedophiles, etc.,” said Michael Rich, a pediatrician and the director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
With growing support, efforts to curb in-school cellphone use appear to be gaining long-term traction, despite some parents’ safety concerns.
Read Next: Why Schools Are Banning Smartphones
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