Schools Are Banning Phones. Here's What Parents & Teachers Think About That.

It’s no secret that everyone is worried about kids and phones, from concerned parents to frustrated school administrators to kids themselves and even the U.S. Surgeon General. Which is perhaps why more and more states across the country are implementing a cell phone (and smartwatch) ban for the classroom this year.

To date, 11 states have imposed restrictions on cell phones in classrooms and on campus, with more states like California and New York looking into adding their own bans this year. But it doesn’t stop there — countries across the world have jumped on a similar train, attempting to curb cell phone use in classrooms with bans of their own.

Why are so many schools interested in banning cell phones in classrooms?

You’ve probably heard the anecdotes and horror stories while standing around chatting with other parents: Kids are really struggling to stay away from their phones during class. But there are hard numbers, too. A Common Sense Media study of 200 students found that a whopping 97% of kids between the age of 11 and 17 admitted to using their phones during school hours; in a recent Pew Research study, more than 70% of high school teachers reporting that cell phone usage in classrooms has created a massive distraction issue for students.

And so, many states are taking action. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has chosen to address this issue by calling for schools in the state to restrict cell phone use in the classroom, while Ohio, Minnesota, Virginia, and many more states across the country have added cell phone restriction policies to their classrooms. In fact, 76% of American schools had instituted some cell phone regulations in the classroom as of 2020, per Nea Today. Most recently, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has also been meeting with school superintendents, teachers, and local politicians to decide whether or not to implement an outright ban on cell phones during most of the school day.

“I pretty much know where I’m going. I believe people will come along because I know what I’ve heard, that this is probably the one bipartisan — I want to say nonpartisan — issue that really is having a breakthrough,” Hochul said in a recent interview at the governor’s Manhattan office, per New York Magazine. “I want to go big on this one. We’re going big.”

What are other countries doing?

The United States is by no means the first country to consider the effect of cell phones in the classroom. Across the border in Canada, several provinces across the country have decided to implement a cell phone ban in classrooms, according to the CBC, and while the parameters of the ban vary from district to district, the general plan is to restrict access during school hours. Schools in the United Kingdom have also decided to take the advice of teachers and restrict the use of cell phones during the school day, and the trend has spread across Europe as well. Schools in Hungary, the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark, and France have all begun to take steps to restrict access to cell phones during learning periods.

In France, 200 middle schools have acted as a test program by asking students to leave their schools in their lockers, while Greece, Italy, Brussels, and Croatia have issued outright bans of cell phones in the classroom. There has been some pushback in other countries, particularly in Canada where teachers have expressed concern that they will be expected to police students’ electronics without any support, but the belief that cell phones have a negative impact on students’ learning is a shared concern.

Of course, a cell phone ban is a complex issue for many. As Italian education expert Stefano Lodola tells Scary Mommy, “For public schools in Italy, there are issues with the facilities. Banning of cellular phones, especially for concerned parents, would make them doubt safekeeping of the phone and the safety of their child.” Lodola noted that a cell phone ban would require “a concerted effort among school administrators, parents, and teachers, to seamlessly implement such” rules, particularly considering “Italian schools from kindergarten to college ultimately value social interaction and foster good communication.”

What do teachers want?

Banning cell phones in the classroom seems like the kind of idea that would get unilateral support from teachers, especially those who are struggling to hold their students’ attention during school hours. The Wichita, Kansas teachers’ union even included a cell phone ban in their contract negotiations this year as they believed these devices were affecting their working conditions, per EdWeek.

But New York-based history teacher David Round told New York Magazine he was initially skeptical of the idea. He believes that “the media, at times, has overplayed how dysfunctional our students are. You’d think our kids are zombies that have no ability to communicate, and all they do is stare at their phones 24/7. That’s not reality, and it never was.” That said, since a cell phone ban was implemented at Rounds’ school, he’s seen a marked improvement in the way students are socializing with each other. “It reminded me of what the hallway used to be like — a loud conversation, kids engaged with each other.

Retired Canadian high school teacher John Fearnall had a different take on the issue. “Banning such a valuable resource from our schools is a little strange, partly because, for the last number of years, teachers have been encouraged to move to the digital space,” Fearnall explained to Scary Mommy. “For example, without smartphones, my photography class would not have been able to take any pictures as we no longer had cameras since our budget for equipment was pretty much eliminated.”

Fearnall noted that he believed concessions would be made in these cases, but pointed out that teaching media literacy might be the answer. “Rather than banning cell phones, we first teach all our children to be media literate before they get their device. This way, they can understand how the device shapes all of us. Or, if they already have a device, we teach them to be a little more self-aware by challenging them to examine how much of their lives are spent looking at screens.”

What do parents want?

Despite a groundswell of support for the idea of banning cell phones in school from administrators and teachers, there are plenty of parents who appear to be hesitant about the idea. After years of being constantly connected to their kids, some might find it difficult not to have access to them during school hours.

As parent educator and education coach Sari Goodman tells Scary Mommy, “Parents are going to need support and understanding starting with the office staff who will be getting more calls and emails than they can handle. The first step in the disconnections process will be parents admitting that they have needed their children to have a cell phone at all times.” Goodman notes that the reality and imminent danger of school shootings has given parents just cause for very real concern, and a recent study by Whistle Out found that safety during an emergency was the number one reason why parents wanted their kids to have cell phones. That same study found that more than half of parents wanted their kids to have their cell phones during the school day.

Brian Galvin, Chief Academic Officer for Varsity Tutors, noted in an email to Scary Mommy that asking teachers to confiscate phones is a big responsibility if a student doesn’t comply with the ban. “For a teacher to confiscate or attempt to take away a phone is a real risk, taking responsibility for potentially a $1,000+ device.” Galvin also points out that phones are used for research purposes like taking pictures and audio clips for enhanced note-taking. “What used to be ‘look it up’ in a library is every bit as valid today to look it up on a phone,” he tells Scary Mommy.

What’s best for everyone?

As worried as parents might be about their kids’ phones and losing touch, Laura Tierney, founder and CEO of The Social Institute, an organization focused on equipping students and teachers with tools to navigate a tech-focused world, pointed out in an email to Scary Mommy that “we are so focused on cell phones, we are forgetting that schools are giving students OTHER devices that are as capable as cell phones. Students can chat back and forth in a Google doc, for example. During and following the pandemic, there was a huge surge in schools going 1:1 and giving students devices, and I think that can sometimes get lost because of the heavy focus on phones.”

The idea of a complete cell phone ban in the classroom is a huge change for students, parents, and teachers. As the school year gets underway, it remains to be seen how these changes will ultimately benefit the classroom.