Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones

 Cellphones have become a school scourge. More than 70 percent of high school teachers say student phone distraction is a “major problem,” according to a survey this year by Pew Research.

That’s why states are mounting a bipartisan effort to crack down on rampant student cellphone use. So far this year, at least eight states have passed laws, issued orders or adopted rules to curb phone use among students during school hours.

The issue isn’t simply that some children and teenagers compulsively use apps like Snap, TikTok and Instagram during lessons, distracting themselves and their classmates. In many schools, students have also used their phones to bully, sexually exploit and share videos of physical attacks on their peers.

But cellphone restrictions can be difficult for teachers to enforce without schoolwide rules requiring students to place their phones in lockers or other locations.

Now state lawmakers, along with some prominent governors, are pushing for more uniform restrictions in public schools.

With the new school year already underway this month in some states, those new rules are kicking in. Here’s what to know.

Do school phone bans work?

Teachers say that phone bans in the classroom have helped improve students’ ability to concentrate on their lessons and work in groups. Some schools have also found the bans decreased phone-related bullying and student fights.

Even so, the bans could have limited effect on the larger problem of technology in the classroom.

Some students use school-issued laptops or tablets in their classes for much of the school day, with diversions like YouTube or video games one click away. Studies have found that laptop use in the classroom can have a distracting, negative impact on student learning.

Students have also used school devices to bully their peers. Bark, a risk-monitoring service that scans students’ school-administered Google and Microsoft accounts, said in July that it had documented more than 8.5 million cases of school cyberbullying on Google Docs since 2019 — and more than half a million cyberbullying cases involving students on Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft said Teams offered a wide range of controls that schools could use to supervise or block student chats.

Google said that its education products had tools for students to report bullying to their schools and that settings in its education software and school-issued Chromebook laptops enabled schools to block certain websites and apps.

Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones - The New York Times (nytimes.com)