High school students entering Ewing Marion Kauffman School in Kansas City for the first time saw something new when they entered their classroom: a locker for their cell phones.
A new policy requires all high school students to put their phones away for the day. Students put their phones in the box, which is designed for phones, and it is locked after school, said Deon Whitten, dean of students at the charter school. The restrictions were put in place after a 2023 pilot study with a ninth-grade class found that those phone-free students had the school’s highest GPA, Whitten said.
Once administrators saw the academic performance, the decision to restrict phones was an easy one. “There’s a pressure with phones,” said Whitten, 39, who has been at the charter school for about three years. “Now they can go to school and just be a student. They don’t have to worry.”
Teachers and school leaders have long known that cell phones are a major distraction to learning: A 2023 Pew survey found that 72% of high school teachers consider cell phones a major problem in their classrooms.
US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy an opinion was issued about the effects of social media on the mental health of young people. This week he also brought an advisory on ‘parental stress’, specifically mentioning monitoring children’s phone use as a cause.
But it’s not just about academics. Restrictions on cellphones can also help with social development and community building at school, Kim Whitman, a parent-turned-advocate, told CBS News. Whitman, a co-founder of Phone Free, began advocating for no cellphones in schools after her children began their education. She said their organization surveys schools across the country that report massive behavioral problems, including fights planned on social media and an increasingly “anxious” generation. Whitman said that when schools “allow phones, it’s hard for students to connect and feel a sense of belonging.”
Some students admit that having a phone in class distracted them from learning, and that not having one made them feel better. “I don’t worry about the notifications I get and who’s texting me or what’s happening on social media,” Jazmine Anderson, an eighth-grader at Martin Luther King Middle School in Virginia, told CBS News.
Administrators and communities have listened: According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, about 76% of public schools prohibit the use of cell phones or smartphones during school hours for non-academic purposes.
But not every district wants to deal with a ban. Some parents want access to their children for safety reasons — or in the case of everyone’s worst nightmare, a mass shooting — or for more mundane reasons, like coordinating rides or planning after-school activities. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order in the state requiring districts to restrict or ban cellphone use by Jan. 1, though many are already running pilot programs. He told CBS News’ Meg Oliver that as a parent, he understands there are still “very practical concerns that need to be addressed” and that families often need to stay in touch during the day.
Other teachers and administrators don’t want to become what some New York City educators described to CBS New York as the “phone police,” risking wasting time enforcing the ban or fighting with students over their phones. The nation’s largest school district proposed a ban but ultimately failed to implement phone restrictions before the 2024 school year, CBS New York reported.
Whitten, of Kansas City, said the rollout has been pretty smooth, but before they implemented the cellphone rule, they had to ask parents for permission. Some have pushed back, Whitten said, worried about safety and being able to stay in touch with their kids in case of a shooting or other incident, and some parents just want control, he said.
Other large school districts, like Los Angelescould ban phones on school campuses. Florida banned cellphones statewide in 2023, and Indiana and Ohio passed legislation this year.
Other schools are taking a step-by-step approach, district by district.
Utah’s Granite School District has restricted cell phone use in schools this year by purchasing cases so students can keep their phones with them, CBS affiliate KUTV reported. “There’s a lot of bullying and harassment on social media (and) on texting that’s distracting,” said Andrea Stringham, a spokesperson for Granite School District. It’s also something that “would help our students overall — academically, mentally, emotionally,” she said.
New Jersey’s Cherry Hill Public School District said it is phasing in its new cellphone restrictions, which were adopted in August. Superintendent Kwame Morton told CBS News after much discussion that children will be allowed to keep their phones with them during school hours but will not be allowed to use them during instructional hours. Students who don’t follow the rules will be subject to the school’s disciplinary policy, he said. Morton said the district decided to take the least restrictive route after some pushback from vocal parents.
Morton said there was a consensus about concerns for students and constant access to mobile devices. “Kids are just growing up with a constant barrage on their mental health,” he said.
