When it comes to banning cell phones in schools, success may be determined by the details.
Do the bans only apply to classrooms, or also to hallways, restrooms and cafeterias, where students are much more likely to be preoccupied with TikTok or text messages?
Do teachers have the freedom to ignore bans when phones are used as part of the lesson? Should School Districts Buy Devices to Lock or Hide Phones? What about distractions from other types of screens – laptops, tablets and smartwatches? And what about some parents who like the idea of being able to reach their children 24/7?
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
Those were just some of the questions California Governor Gavin Newsom faced after announcing that his state would be the last — after Florida and Indiana — to pursue a ban on cellphones in schools.
Teachers who have themselves tried to limit cell phone use can be difficult to enforce, if only because phones have become so ingrained in everyday life that they are seen as necessary for practical and emotional reasons. Still, some districts with comprehensive policies have had success, overcome resistance and seen a change in student behavior.
Naomi Frierson, 44, a fifth-grade teacher in the Tampa, Florida, area, said little had changed for her since Gov. Ron DeSantis imposed a nationwide ban on smartphone use in classrooms last year. She had already asked students to put their phones in a storage bag that hangs on the wall, far from their desks.
But, she added, she understands that phones are a useful communication tool for students walking home from school alone or caring for a younger sibling in the afternoon.
And as a parent, she said, she had empathy for the fear of not being able to reach a child in the event of an emergency or worst-case scenario, such as a school shooting.
Frierson’s daughter, Eliana, 17, had stronger feelings. She said it was an overreaction to ban smartphones all day, noting that she often completed school assignments using her phone.
“It is an integral part of education,” says Eliana. “It’s wrong to take it away when it’s a tool that’s really useful.”
Smartphones are often part of education, especially in high school. They provide quick access to Google Translate in foreign language classes or an online graphing calculator in calculus. Many teenagers write essays and other assignments on their phones.
Some students point out that adults seem to be as dependent on their cell phones as teenagers. Ana Sofía Tiberia-Lozano, 16, said she would prefer a policy that is consistent between students and teachers. “Older generations always think the new generation is more difficult,” she said.
Eric Schildge, an eighth-grade English teacher in Newburyport, Massachusetts, said he often instructs children to pick up their cell phones and text a parent if a permission slip or an assignment is missing.
“This feels really shortsighted, as far as a governor mandating something like this,” Schildge said. “As a teacher, that doesn’t feel like the most workable way to do my work.”
He acknowledged that technology could cause problems in schools, but said the problem went well beyond cell phones. In one of his classes, students compulsively played Slope, a browser-based video game, on their school-issued Chromebooks. He often ordered them to close their computers. But over time, he has discovered that engaging, practical lessons are the best antidote to screen time, he said.
This year, his students created physical, bound book reports with decorative covers after reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee or “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead.
“They really appreciated being able to make and do something with their hands.”
Newsom’s announcement is part of a wave of public concern about cell phone and social media use among adolescents. The Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has said that social media platforms should carry warning labels similar to those found on cigarette packs. In his bestseller ‘The Anxious Generation’, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that parents should delay giving their children access to smartphones and that schools should strictly limit their use.
Sabine Polak, a parent in Pennsylvania and founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, wrote in an email that Newsom’s statement was “great news” but said she was seeking more details.
Cell phones should be banned anywhere on campus during the school day, she said, and students who violate the rules should have their devices immediately confiscated.
She added that because teens often secretly use phones hidden in backpacks, the devices need to be physically put away.
Some schools use a phone pouch called the Yondr, which is locked or unlocked by school staff but which students can carry with them throughout the day.
Such equipment is rented annually. At Bethlehem High School in Delmar, New York, outside Albany, the district spent $26,773 on 1,400 bags last school year.
The superintendent, Jody Monroe, said she was pleased with the results, noting that teachers no longer had to spend classroom time negotiating with students over telephone use and that the overall social climate in the building had improved.
“When phones were still allowed, there was an eerie silence that I’m not sure we even noticed at the time,” she wrote in an email. “That’s gone now.”
A few dozen parents who initially complained about the policy have calmed down, she added, and some even admitted they had been wrong.
Patrick Franklin, a high school history teacher in Longview, Texas, in the eastern part of the state, tried to institute his own personal ban, requiring students to put phones away in another part of his classroom. But he stopped because of the separation anxiety it caused.
“I wish I lived in a world where they weren’t,” he said of the phones. “But that’s not the reality I’m dealing with. I can’t imagine a world where mobile phones haven’t penetrated every part of society.”
Liz Shulman, a high school English teacher in Evanston, Ill., outside Chicago, said she had noticed in recent months that more and more parents were recognizing that teens should spend their classroom time without phones.
But because some parents still want constant communication, Shulman said she welcomed action from lawmakers like Newsom.
“It will force everyone – administrators, teachers and parents – to focus,” she said.
But there may be opposition. In Capitola, California, Diana Coatney was already planning to give her twins, Zoe and Luke, a phone for their 12th birthday in August. But then a bomb threat was sent to their high school.
“Boy, that certainly moved the timeline forward,” Coatney said, adding that the phone is “in some ways a security blanket for me, but also a little bit of autonomy for them.”
c.2024 The New York Times Company