There is no place for cell phones in schools, and some states are cracking down on them

Jennifer Jolly
| Special to USA TODAY

No cell phones in school. That’s the message being broadcast from school campuses far and wide when kids head back to school this fall, where they’ll have the strictest classroom smartphone bans since the ubiquitous “tech appendage” went mainstream more than a decade ago.

The measures come at a time when educators, politicians and even some students say cell phones have become a constant distraction, negatively impacting academic performance and mental health.

“Cell phones are a drug, and kids are hard-wired to get addicted,” Dave Gomez, deputy sheriff of Boise County, Idaho, tells me over the phone. Gomez has been a school liaison officer for 11 years and says he’s seen the problems between students and smartphones get worse every year.

“All of this (the new smartphone technology) is coming at the expense of childhood. I see sixth-graders who don’t have a cell phone. They bring their guitar, they bring their ukulele, they draw, they play sports. And then I see them in seventh grade getting a cell phone and giving up everything for that cell phone; no more guitar, no more drawing, no more friends. The cell phone becomes their number one priority.”

When is it “too much too fast” for mobile phones?

That’s exactly what happened when Leigh Hicks, a mother from Wilmington, North Carolina, allowed her daughter to use an iPhone just before sixth grade.

“My dad gave her an Apple Watch and a free phone,” Hicks says. “I was against her getting a phone at such a young age and I should have made my point, but I gave in.”

Hicks says she used Apple’s parental controls and set strict ground rules for her daughter’s iPhone. Still, she says, within a year, her daughter was “completely and totally consumed by that smartphone and social media, and it completely changed her. She got maybe 23 warnings at school. She would sneak into my room at night and use my face or my finger to unlock the phone in the middle of the night. It was a horrible experience.”

Hicks says it was the only thing that helped her get rid of the cell phone. Now her nearly 16-year-old daughter is starting 10th grade with a Lively Jitterbug Flip2 cell phone – a device marketed primarily to seniors for making calls and sending text messages. “It’s the only flip phone I could find that doesn’t have Internet access,” Hicks says with a sigh.

Elementary school teacher Allison Graves of Virginia Beach, Virginia, also regretted giving her daughter an older model iPhone just before seventh grade. “After she got the phone, some things happened that weren’t the safest or best decisions. She didn’t follow our rules about what was appropriate and OK to do on the phone. I’ll leave it at that.”

Graves says she also locked down her daughters’ phones by setting Apple’s screen time limits and enabling restrictions on content, privacy and app downloads. It didn’t work.

“One time I looked at her phone and she had TikTok on it. Some kids at her school knew a workaround for it.”

Graves also ditched the iPhone and replaced it with a Bark phone designed specifically for kids. She says she “loves it” because the phone can grow with her daughter and more features can be added as she gets older.

“From what I know as an educator about children’s brains, it’s like putting a child in a candy store with every candy imaginable, but telling them to only go to the vegetable section and eat only vegetables. I don’t know anyone who can do that.”

Both parents say they are relieved that the bans on cell phones in schools are more comprehensive and strict. They hope that this will ease some of the pressure on them and their daughters.

“It would be helpful if no one had a smartphone in class,” Graves adds. “If I need to reach my daughter during the day, I call the office. Or she can call me on the office phone. Or she can use the basic flip phone after class.” Hicks agrees.

Phones for children: With these devices, screen time can be safer

Which schools ban cell phones?

Los Angeles Unified, the country’s second-largest school district, voted to ban smartphones this summer. The measure won’t take effect until January, but LAU schools are already warning students to turn off and put away their devices.

Schools from Seattle to St. Louis are jumping on the cell phone ban bandwagon, and several states are moving to ban cell phones as well. Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma and Florida have some level of cell phone bans in schools.

Several other states are considering similar laws, including New York — home to America’s largest school district — and California. Currently, 11 states restrict cell phone use from “bell to bell” or require schools to do so.

Or better yet, say many people who work in schools, don’t let the kids bring their things to school at all.

“Don’t allow kids to take cell phones to school because they’re too much of a temptation,” says Gomez. “If you allow kids to keep them in their bags or lockers, they’re going to the bathroom 20 times an hour. That’s just too much.”

However, many believe that parents may want to discourage their children from bringing the devices to school at all.

Why do schools ban cell phones?

Nearly three-quarters of high school teachers and one-third of middle school teachers in the U.S. say smartphone distraction is a significant problem in their classroom, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in June.

Another study published last fall by Common Sense Media shows that 97% of children use their phones in school. The average student receives about 60 notifications in a single day during school hours and spends 43 minutes—about the length of an entire class period—on their phone.

Having a cellphone nearby is enough to disrupt a student’s concentration, says a report by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Once teens are distracted by a ringing, buzzing or a quick glance at Snapchat, it can take up to 20 minutes for them to regain their focus on learning.

But do these bans really work? In my next column, we’ll explore why so many parents are resisting these restrictions and doing everything they can to stay connected to their children 24/7 through technology.

We also look at some smartphone alternatives that seem to offer the ideal compromise for both kids and parents when it comes to staying connected – with safety precautions.

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer technology columnist and on-air correspondent. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected].

When is it “too much too fast” for mobile phones?

Which schools ban cell phones?

Why do schools ban cell phones?

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