Yes, we should have phone free schools.
Why I support removing student cell phones for the entire school day, and why you should too.
While our local school district discusses a new cell phone policy, and the Governor of Texas is pending signature of legislation restricting use of phones in schools, I figured it would be a good time to discuss this topic (again). This issue is more important than most people realize, and I hope this post helps readers understand why these policies are needed.
In Fall 2023, I took part in our local school district’s Cell Phone Committee, which was tasked with reviewing our district’s student cell phone policy. It was initiated by the Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC), of which I am now a volunteer with.
There were four cell phone committee meetings that spanned three months. We sent and reviewed surveys from parents and students, met with teachers and principals, visited schools, and reviewed policy options.1 I wrote about the experiences here across five posts:
We found that most of these schools were not able to enforce cell phone rules consistently, from school to school, or even classroom to classroom, as we found during the teacher and principal surveys and in-person panels.
In the end, the committee recommended to the school board that we align all the schools with the same policy, which most of our schools generally had well-rounded restrictions on cell phone use already.
The school board accepted our recommendations, and the new policy was applied across the entire district, much of which gave local schools the initiative to restrict access to phones during instruction but leaving many decisions up to local administrators for enforcement. The thought was that the local groups (i.e., Foundations) would know their school best and how the cell phone restrictions should be applied locally.2
In reality, I do not believe these new policies made much impact. In fact, these changes were sent out as guidelines as part of the Student Handbook and not officially adopted as school board policy. This basically put the issue of cell phones back onto the same people who were already managing them.
I have had much more time to think about phones in schools, and I have read many, many articles and research papers breaking down the impact mobile devices have on children. I even put together a research post as part of the cell phone committee, last updated in 2023. You can find quick summaries for several research papers, books, and other resources here:
Here is a sample book:
The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt (2023)
“The Anxious Generation is a penetrating and alarming accounting of how we adults began to overprotect children in the real world while giving essentially no protection in the brutal online world. Haidt documents the four fundamental harms of the phone-based childhood: sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation, and addiction. He then shows the unique harms affecting boys, and the unique harms affecting girls. In the last section of book, he offers concrete and scientifically based advice with separate chapters addressed to parents, schools, universities, governments, and to teens themselves. He draws on ancient wisdom and modern psychology to help everyone understand what healthy development would look like in the digital age.”
And sample research:
Age of First Smartphone/Tablet and Mental Wellbeing Outcomes (2023) - Link
This report shows that 18–24-year-olds who acquired their first smartphone (or tablet) at each older age had, on average, better mental wellbeing, and correspondingly fewer problems with suicidal thoughts, feelings of aggression towards others and sense of detachment from reality. This points to a cumulative effect of smartphone use in childhood on outcomes in adulthood, one that is particularly prominent for females.
The data collection on the topic of kids with cell phones is vast, with many focusing on the impact of giving children unfiltered access to the internet (and social media specially). The topic has become the go-to capstone or thesis for many graduate and PhD programs.
The data is clear that giving cell phones to children at young ages has a strong negative impact on their abilities to communicate, develop relationships, build soft skills, or to put it plainly…make friends and grow as functioning human beings.
Phones also drive addictive behaviors not unlike actual drugs. One study even found that just the presence of their phones, even if out of sight, was a distraction that took up valuable attention spans. One high school teacher put it as succinctly as I’ve ever heard:
“You wouldn’t let your kid smoke cigarettes in your class, so why are we letting them consume electronic brain cocaine?”
Even if we ignore all the data showing that phones and unfiltered internet access are harmful for kids, is there any significant study to show that they are safe?
Putting the data aside, what does this mean for schools and providing a quality public education for our kids?
Seeing it in person
As part of the district’s cell phone committee, we were invited to visit schools to see the issue for ourselves. Let me tell you…I definitely got to see it.
I visited my local high school and afterwards had drafted a post about my experience. When I sent the draft to the district for their comment, they became alarmed and wanted to discuss with me further. I decided to archive the post, believing that our new policy would help clean up the mess of phones that I had seen.
And make no mistake - it was bad.
This high school has 3,000+ students, and there were phones out everywhere. I walked by dozens of classrooms, and literally all of them had at least four to five students scrolling on their phones.
Teachers were lecturing, kids were scrolling.
Projects were underway, yet heads were on desks turned to the side, scrolling.
Ear buds were everywhere. Most kids would just have one earbud in, but there were several that had both ears plugged. There was a substantial number of students that were completely checked out of school while sitting in class.
During the visit, I had an Assistant Principal as my guide. As we were walking by or entering each classroom, the students would barely look up at us. Even for those that did look at me or the AP, not one of them rushed to hide their phone. They openly used them without thinking there would be any repercussions.3
My visit was eye opening, and it made clear to me that there was a serious issue that was not being properly addressed. Even though the high school already had cell phone restrictions within their local handbook, enforcement was not happening.
But why?
A no-win scenario
Teachers must constantly deal with children who do not want to listen. They try to enforce the rules the best they can, but it is often that teachers cannot both educate and discipline disruptive children class after class, day after day, weeks and into months. It can become exhausting and mentally taxing (to put it lightly).
They rely on their local administrators as backup to provide the discipline. Those admin have limited tools at their disposal, and it is often that they run into parents who are either indifferent to the behavior of their child or enraged that the school would discipline them. When there is no support at home, it makes student management 10 times more difficult at school.
Dealing with the worst of these children, or their parents, can make cell phones a “small” issue that teachers do not want to bother with. Why would they, when they risk a child or parent going ballistic about their phone getting taken up?
This is why the issue of cell phones in schools is so important to address. It is not only an addiction for children and harmful for their brains, but the enforcement of school rules on cell phones is near impossible when each school, teacher, or local administration may handle the situation differently.
With a district-wide policy that is clear and with defined discipline measures, the burden of policy ownership would no longer be on campus educators. The phones can be taken up and discipline applied exactly the same from class to class and school to school. Kids who get their first phones in intermediate school can expect the same policy in junior high and high school.
Further, if parents get upset, staff can simply point to district policy and tell them to take it up with the superintendent or school board. This frees up the mental and emotional drain on teachers (as fleeting as it may be) to deal with something that is completely out of their control, which is the adults who give these addiction machines to their kids and allow them to take it to school.
And about these adults…
We should recognize that it is not only the kids who are addicted to their phones. Parents have equally commandeered the attention of their children while at school due to their own inability to put down their devices.
“Did you make it to school okay? How is your day? Did you make any friends? What would you like for dinner? Do you have practice today? Where are you going after school?” …and on and on.
As a kid of the 90s it still baffles me how entire generations of children are being micromanaged remotely, when in reality a key area of growth that they desperately need is to be able to function without their parents hanging digitally over their shoulders.
Children need to be able to operate independently, and public schools used to be a place they could get away from their ‘managers’ long enough to develop their own personalities and friendships.
This leads me to the kids themselves.
How do the kids feel about using cell phones?
Obviously, kids want their phones 24/7, and they want unlimited, unfiltered access to the internet. And we should recognize why: They are being raised to use them.
As they are children, they do not understand the impact the devices have on their development. As adults, they can become acutely aware. Give this a listen (or read below):
It Was the Damn Phones
By Kori Jane Spaulding
I think our parents were right.
It was the damn phones.
We laughed as children, hearing, “It’s that Snapgram and Instachat and Facetok”.
They didn’t understand. They couldn’t even say it right. We thought we knew better than them.
They didn’t know what it was like, having the world at the tip of our fingers.
We scroll through the trash so much, we have news headlines tattooed on our skin.
Wires for veins. AI for a brain. And they may not have understood. But they were right.
It was the damn phones.
I prided myself on sobriety, on being drunk with only propriety. I was above addiction.
A hypocritical notion. For am I not addicted to my own anxiety?
Brought on by a need for constant stimulation. A drug in our pockets.
But who can blame us? We were but children when they were given.
We didn’t know how to stop it. If I added up all the hours I spent on a screen,
existential dread and regret would creep in. So I ignore this fact by opening my phone.
And it’s not like I can throw it away. It’s how we communicate. It’s how we relate.
It’s a medicine that is surely making our souls die.
I used to say I was born in the wrong generation, but I was mistaken.
For I do everything I say I hate. Exchanging hobbies for Hinge,
truth with TikTok, intimacy with Instagram, sanity with Snapchat.
I have become self-aware. Almost worse than being naive. I know it’s poison, but I drink away.
The character behind the phone screen has become self-aware.
We used to be scared of robots gaining consciousness, a lie by the media companies.
To keep us distracted enough, so not to become conscious of the mess they created.
We are the robots. We are the product. And so I sit and I scroll and I rot on repeat.
Sit and scroll and rot.
Until my thoughts are what is being fed to me on TV,
until my feelings are wrapped up in celebrities,
until my body is a tool of my political identity.
I sit and I scroll and I rot.
And I post on the internet how the internet has failed us
so that I may not fail my internet presence. I think our parents were right.
It was the damn phones.
The After Babel blog helps break this down further:
It has been true for hundreds of years: older generations worry about whatever new technology young people are using, and whatever new media they are consuming. This is why some people believe that the current wave of concern about social media and smartphones is overblown, like earlier concerns about violence in comic books and music lyrics. These skeptics say that no new norms or laws are needed.
But during all previous waves, most young people liked the things they were doing (as far as we know).1 They were grateful to have access to radios, TV shows, comic books, and rap music. They did not create organizations to fight back against these industries for harming kids.
How do members of Gen Z feel about smartphones and social media? Are they grateful to have gotten them in middle school? As we (and several others) have shown using surveys, the answer is no. Many members of Gen Z have deep regrets about growing up attached to these products. They see the damage done, and there is a growing movement to push back.
Common Questions
There have always been questions in this debate, and we heard these frequently during our district’s cell phone committee meetings.
Let’s go through these.
What about other school districts?
There are Texas school districts that have had cell phone bans in effect since the very beginning. I’m talking early 2000s. And yet, there are many ISDs that have simply ignored the issue for 20+ years. It is why I believe it has reached a breaking point to where the state legislature has had to step in to address it.
One of the more interesting versions of these policies at another district is one that includes confiscation of phones (when not allowed), requiring the parent to physically come to the school to pick it up and pay a $15 fee. Any phones not picked up within 90 days gets disposed of.
I can only imagine how quickly this kind of policy would resolve cell phone use in districts where there are no current policies.
Regardless, if your school district is considering banning cell phones at school, they would be far from the first.
Not to mention, the results speak for themselves:
My child needs their phone for medication reminders, alerts through medical apps, etc.
Students with 504s/IEPs are exempt from every version of cell phone policies that I have seen. This is an easy accommodation. I would personally prefer to lean on the school nurse to manage or assist with these types of things, but if an accommodation is needed, then there is a mechanism for it.
Teachers need them because there aren’t enough computers.
It is often an argument that personal phones are needed to offset schools that do not have one computer per student (aka 1-to-1). As in, if there are not enough computers for all students, and they have a task that needs to be completed online, students must use their own cell phones.
With or without 1-to-1, some teachers will have students use their personal phones for taking pictures of slides, doing surveys, or submitting work.4
I believe this is bad practice and needs to end.
There is a long, complex discussion around 1-to-1, especially when you involve school bonds. My conclusion is that it is the school district’s responsibility to provide what is needed and to not lean on taxpayers to offload device needs.
For schools where devices are in short supply, teachers will adapt and find other methods for students to complete the work needed. They always figure out a way, and they are really good at getting things done with the resources they have.
If the school can manage the abomination that is taking STAAR tests online without 1-to-1, then they can figure out how to make sure kids complete normal schoolwork.5
What about in between classes or at lunch?
Why would we want the only social times in school to be the only available moments for cell phones? Of course, kids would choose their phones over making conversation with people in real life. It may make for quiet hallways or lunchrooms, but this defeats part of the purpose of removing the phones to begin with.
We should want students to interact directly while at school, and in between classes or at lunch are the few times they have to do so. I certainly would not want my kids to be worried about making friends online when they could build real relationships with kids their age right in front of them.
Coaches send out texts for practice notices.
Again, this was not a problem before the age of cell phones. Schedules are set for a reason, and if there is change to the schedule then there are other methods to letting students know that practice was cancelled or that it will be held elsewhere because of rain.
It does not mean coaches cannot text updates. It just means that students can get those notices after they are done receiving their education.
What about teacher’s cell phones?
How often do you use your cell phone at work? These are professionals doing their jobs, and their phone use includes completely different use cases. Their phone use can be part of their job role.
K-12 students are not required to have their phones to learn.
My kid’s phone has parent controls, and they don’t have social media.
You are doing great, but unfortunately you are in the minority on this. Most parents do not know how to properly control screentime, nor do they understand the complex parent controls to block sites like social media or porn. It is why the school bus is likely where your 5th grader will see the most horrific things on the internet for the first time, because a parent gave their 1st grader a phone with an unrestricted browser.
We certainly do not need these websites within schools during instructional time.
For those that need help managing their kid’s phones, there are many resources out there on properly introducing technology to your kids, and how you can educate them on the harms of social media or other sites.
Similar to drugs, alcohol, vaping, or other harmful activities, we have to explain how things work to kids so that they can understand how to manage themselves when they are adults. Cell phone use, social media, and pornography has simply become another thing for us to parent them on (when the time is appropriate).
My kids follow the rules and do not abuse their use of cell phones.
Are you sure about that? Have you checked their screentime usage recently?
I bet every teacher who reads this knows of at least a few kids in every class whose parents don’t believe them when they say their child does not follow the rules.
It is often this way because kids at home are free to play what they want, where at school they are forced to do work that they absolutely do not want to do. They may act differently when they are forced to give up the one toy they have at school.
What if my kid needs me?
This is a question about parenting that we will have disagreements with. If my kid needs me during their day, or there is an emergency (more on that in a moment), then does my child need to be able to contact me at any time?
Are we meant to fix all our kid’s issues without giving them an opportunity to resolve it on their own?
As a kid who didn’t get his first flip phone until 11th grade, there was never an issue of the school getting ahold of my family. Most of the time I did not want them to contact my family. Similarly, if my family needed to get ahold of me, it was a quick message through the school’s front office to do so.
And let me tell you how impressive school front office staff are. You send them an email, or call in about your kid, and they will definitely get your message to the right place. If your kid has an issue, you can also bet the front desk or school nurse is going to call you. I have seen this for myself by spending multiple days at schools through the Watch DOGS program. All day long they are fielding calls, sending notes, delivering transportation changes, and on and on.
In my opinion, I much rather prefer that an adult calls me to give me the situation details rather than my kid who may just want to get out of school or is overthinking what someone might have said about their hair.
I can empathize with parents who have children with special needs, high anxiety, or if they feel the school district is not treating their child fairly. You want to be plugged in as best as you can to support your child. As mentioned above, students with 504s/IEPs would not be impacted by these policies if the accommodation of a cell phone is needed.
For reference, here is one question from the parent survey results our cell phone committee sent out. Look at the second line for the #1 answer:
Here is where you can find the full survey results:
As it relates to school shootings or other major emergencies, none of these policies stop students from grabbing their phones when needed (assuming they’re nearby). If they do not have their phones, rest assured school staff know there is a shooter in the building, and they have protocols to follow to protect students and alert authorities.
Law enforcement also has their protocols, and outside the atrocity that was Uvalde, I fully expect our local police departments to go through that door. Having kids call/text their parents, rushing 1,000+ cars to the high school while the SWAT team is trying to get there, probably isn’t going to help.
For other events such as bad weather, there is procedure there as well, which is why you will receive texts or emails from the school telling you what their plans are for dismissal, power outages, etc.
Unfortunately, this is a difficult, complex topic to think about as parents, and there is no right answer for this one. We simply want our kids to be safe, and it is understandable that we want them to be able to contact us whenever they need.
More data
Before we close, here is more information on this topic. Any and all data you want on the impact of social media on children, and its ability to consume their time, energy, and mental health, can likely be found on the After Babel Substack:
After Babel - which all posts are free - provides an abundance of data from multiple perspectives, which includes a focus on the importance of childhood play, the recognition that there is a mental health illness epidemic worldwide (much of which is caused by social media), and several other fact-based sources on why giving kids access to the open internet 24/7 is a bad idea.
A recent relevant post:
Here are their most popular posts:
Yes, Social Media Really Is a Cause of the Epidemic of Teenage Mental Illness
Here are 13 Other Explanations For The Adolescent Mental Health Crisis. None of them Work (By Jean Twenge)
The Teen Mental Illness Epidemic Is International, Part 1: The Anglosphere. (By Zach and me)
Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest
Play Deprivation is a Major Cause of the Teen Mental Health Crisis. (By Peter Gray)
A Time We Never Knew (By Freya India)
The Ed Tech Revolution Has Failed (By Jared Cooney Horvath)
Give these a read when you have time.
Closing
What does a phone ban in schools mean in reality? It means your kids will still be able to take their phones to school, but they would have to remain off or away completely during instructional time or perhaps the entire school day. “Away” means in their backpacks, purse, locker, etc.
If they get caught with the phone out while not allowed, they would be disciplined, perhaps with a schedule of escalation up to school suspension.
Other devices, like earbuds, smart watches, or Nintendo Switch (yes these go to schools too), would likely face the same policy if not be completely banned from entering the school.
Public schools should not be a place where kids go to sit and scroll their phones, feeding their online addictions. There are true mental tolls that come with these devices, and when they are part of a teacher’s classroom, it diminishes their ability to do their job properly, which is to educate our children.
Phones disrupt the classroom environment, arguably impacting overall student outcomes. Allowing them to go unchecked is bad policy, in my opinion.
We must recognize that students need to develop their social skills, to learn to speak to one another with respect and empathy. Behind a keyboard, whether anonymous or not, can bring out the worst in adults. What do we expect it to do with young minds that haven’t fully developed?
There are plenty of alternatives and solutions available to help fill the gap for where student cell phones are currently being used, if they are to be removed.
I support completely removing student cell phones from schools, from opening bell to release. You should too, because not only does it support improved outcomes for our schools, but it is also better for your child and their growth as a human being.
Sorry, no TLDR on this one.
Thanks for reading.
Also, after each cell phone committee update, I would receive several private messages from school staff regarding how bad cell phone use at their campuses. This also included substitutes, who had all but given up doing the work because of how frustrating it was.
For example, with local control phones could be restricted in classrooms but allowed in between classes or during lunch. It would be up to the local school staff to decide.
Note that other cell phone committee members who visited different schools reported better results.
We learned during our teacher panel that some of them have students take out their phones to take pictures of presentation slides or references for homework.
Understanding that 1-to-1 is a complex topic for schools that needs a further deep dive.