There is overwhelming support for banning cellphones during class time in middle and high schools. Two-thirds of Americans believe phone-free schools will help students improve their social skills, grades, and behavior.
We may also see if that happens since more students across the country face the new reality this school year of no cellphones allowed in the classroom.
According to the Parents Television and Media Council, since last fall, more than thirty states have moved to ban or restrict cellphones in their public schools.
“Cell phones are expected to be off and away,” Virginia Beach Public School Board member Kathleen Brown told CBN News. “So, in the backpack if they’re in high school. Just off and away, not in use, not vibrating or turning on or sending messages that are going to be distracting them in the classroom and the hallways.”
States joining Virginia in these phone bans include Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, and Texas.
In Wisconsin, where nearly every school district bans phones in the classroom, GOP state senator Joel Kitchens told CBN News that an ongoing problem is with enforcing the rules, often due to parental complaints.
Kitchens has introduced legislation to send a clear message that school district superintendents have state law behind phone restriction polices.
“We’re not doing this because we think the schools don’t – we’re not forcing the schools to do this,” Kitchens explained. “We want to back them up and let them say, when the parents complain to them, say, ‘hey, sorry, we’re just following state law.’ So that’s really the goal that we all need to be on the same page on this.”
Experts and advocates agree that phones have led to a mental health crisis for young Americans, ranging from lack of attention and poor focus.
“We also have what some researchers have termed an attention apocalypse going on, which is kids have become so acclimated to these digital devices,” said Melissa Henson of the Parents Television and Media Council.
Some experts warn that phones are also inviting trauma and danger into the lives of kids.
Laura Derrendinger, who once worked as a public health nurse, told CBN News, “I saw the phone indeed as a vector of disease carrying toxic online content and creating disease in our children.”
Parents like Derrendinger have become the driving force behind a grassroots effort to get kids off screens.
Sabine Polak helped start the group Phone Free Schools Movement.
“Phones have really stripped childhood away from kids, said Polak. “We joined together; we really started trying to advocate in our community for education around the harms of social media, and through that we began talking with the leaders in our school community.”
As a former teacher and a member of Smartphone Free Childhood US, Kathleen Barlow saw firsthand the negative effect of cellphone addiction in kids.
“Kids are retreating into these virtual worlds, and we feel like we’re losing them,” Barlow said.
Beyond mental health concerns, teachers and school administrators are seeing more classroom disruptions and disciplinary problems in students with phones in class.
The Pew Research Center recently found that 72 percent of high school teachers consider cellphone distraction a major problem in their classrooms. Thirty-three percent of middle school teachers also share concerns.
“I call them dopamine devices in their hands,” said Barlow. “It’s very difficult for teachers to compete with that kind of level of entertainment. Even the best teachers can’t compete with that.”
Some parents aren’t comfortable that their children won’t have their phones, especially in case of an emergency.
But Henson points to the advice of experts on that issue.
“If mom is calling their child during an emergency, or heaven forbid there’s a school shooter situation going on, the child, instead of listening to the first responders that are there in person and have complete, accurate information, instead they’re trying to calm mom down on the phone, or mom may be hearing inaccurate information,” said Henson.
Meanwhile, teachers across the country are happy about the new policies.
“I’ve never had our kids more engaged – in 21 years – ever – 21 years,” one teacher posted on TikTok.
Another said, “All of my students – 100% of them – took notes in my class, did their assignment. And then when they were done, they talked to each other. Was it this easy the whole time?”
There are also other surprising outcomes.
“One of my partners with a Smartphone Free Childhood team, she was talking to librarians and after the school had gone phone-free, the librarian said the amount of books checked out of the library of high school increased by 50%,” commented Derrendinger. “That’s huge.”
Such results have many celebrating as parents, lawmakers, and schools work together to create healthier, more focused environments for the nation’s students.
