Parents aren’t the only ones concerned with their children’s increased reliance on cellphones . Teachers see the impact screens are having on children and teenagers in the classrooms, and it’s not good.
According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year, 72% of U.S. high school teachers consider cellphone distraction a major problem in their classrooms. Middle school teachers (33%) and elementary school teachers (6%) also share concerns about student distraction due to cellphones.
The increase in mental health challenges among children is no doubt due in part to their constant access to cellphones and social media throughout the day, even while in school.
Government and educational leaders are starting to push back on cellphone use by children during the school day. Florida has banned smartphones from schools. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) issued an executive order to create a “cellphone-free education” as a necessary step to improve education and children’s mental health.
In June, Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the nation, approved a resolution to develop a policy banning student use of cellphones and social media platforms during the entire school day.
Even New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is undertaking a listening tour to help inform a policy proposal about how to deal with cellphones in classrooms.
In total, there are 28 states pushing back against cellphone use in the classroom. Families and officials on both sides of the aisle are realizing that our children’s education and mental health are being harmed.
Not only are phones distracting, but children can also be exposed to addictive technology and social media, predators, sexually explicit and graphically violent content, and powerful algorithms that feed harmful content to children.
Personal tech can also be weaponized in schools, creating and magnifying bullying situations against classmates and teachers. Elizabeth Englander, a professor at Bridgewater State University, found in her 2017 research that “giving a young child a cellphone increases the likelihood that the child will either become a victim of bullying or a bully themselves.”
It is an encouraging sign that leaders across the country are working to enhance and improve learning environments by removing these devices from the classroom.
Approaches to a cellphone-free learning environment have differed so far. One middle school in Manchester, Connecticut, started requiring students to lock up their phones in locked Yondr pouches during the school day. The school had policies in place prohibiting phone use during class, but administrators found enforcement was difficult and often came down to power struggles between students and teachers.
Michigan’s Tomlinson Middle School in the Westwood Community School District implemented a classroom cellphone ban, resulting in higher rates of completed assignments and longer attention spans. In the lunchroom, the school found that students were engaged in more social interaction due to the absence of cellphones.
Ultimately, whether these efforts succeed depends on parents themselves. Despite parents’ concerns about the harmful effects of screens on their children, they too often grant them access to these devices anyway because they want access to their children at every moment of the day.
This sort of “helicopter parenting” can negatively affect a child’s development and growth, fueling anxiety, making children less willing to take healthy risks, and reducing their ability to regulate their emotions, exhibit self-control, and solve problems on their own. In Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation , he says it's a combination of children being over-protected from the real world and under-protected online that is causing these problems.
Of course, parents also want their students to be safe at school, which is another frequently cited reason why children are bringing cellphones to school. But the reality is cellphones ultimately do not contribute to a safe or healthy learning environment for children.
Policymakers working to create better and safer schools without the use of cellphones should be commended. All states should strive toward policies that give children every chance to focus on their work and excel in school. Going cellphone-free is a prime way to do just that.
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Melissa Henson is the vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment.
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