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Summary

• Teachers and school leaders say that cellphones disrupt learning and classroom engagement.

• Excessive cellphone use and social media have also been linked to increased anxiety, depression, loneliness and diminished focus.

• Many parents and students, however, want cellphones access in schools to communicate during emergencies and improve peace of mind. Some students and teachers also say they have some instructional benefits.

• Strategies to restrict in-school social media access, incentivize student device policy compliance and bolster digital equity initiatives could address diverse concerns.

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Cellphones—nor smartphones, even—are new to American life. Nor are they particularly novel anymore in school settings. Yet, post-pandemic, the debate about students’ in-school use of devices has seemingly never been bigger. 

Some desire allowing cellphone use with few to moderate restrictions, citing instructional uses, technology skills development, and emergency communication needs. Others, however, insist that cellphones are overly pervasive and addictive, that these devices of distraction undermine students’ learning and wellbeing. They tend to favor more encompassing restrictions.

Lately, it seems that some measure of cellphone control is wanted. Eighteen states since 2023 alone have issued some sort of order to curb students’ in-school cellphone use. In California, just before the state enacted its own restriction legislation, Governor Gavin Newsom wrote, “Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning, and growth… free from the distractions on the phones, and pressures of social media.”

More states and education institutions will likely grapple with the cellphone question in the coming months and years. Eventually, the District of Columbia will have to, as well.

The case for bans.

School cellphone restrictions are not new. They’ve been around practically since the advent of handheld devices. But a common sentiment among school officials today is that managing students’ in-school cellphone use has become a whole new ballgame.

Virtually all high school age kids now own a smartphone. These devices are incredibly powerful. At any moment, just one or two finger taps away, kids can access inexhaustible, interest-tailored content. Even when they’re not looking to be online, kids’ devices can draw them in, pushing on average about 240 notifications each day. Is it really all that surprising, then, that nearly half of American teens report being online almost all day? 

That fact probably doesn’t astonish teachers. Most acknowledge that cellphones are major distractions in their classrooms. Far too frequently, they say, they must admonish students to put away devices, and occasionally, they must contend with disruptive backlashes from reprimanded students. 

Rachel Hargreaves, a District of Columbia middle school teacher, spoke with the D.C. State Board of Education about her experiences  with cellphones in schools. “After students were home for a year and a half,” she said, referring to pandemic-era lockdowns, “their… addictions compounded exponentially.” Before COVID-19, she says she was confiscating just 1 to 2 cellphones per school year. Now, she estimates, she has to take 1-to-2 cellphones per class, per day. “It’s challenging enough to grab the attention of a room full of 8th graders and make their learning exciting,” she said, “but the phones made it truly impossible.”

Some evidence suggests policies restricting students’ cellphone use can improve student classroom engagement and learning. And there’s even optimism that restrictions can moderate student behavior. Within just one year after implementing a device “pouching” policy, one Hartford, Connecticut school reported a 50% decrease in office referrals and a greater than 30% reduction in suspensions.

Teachers see robust, enforceable student cellphone restrictions as necessary. Recounting a single-school cellphone ban that his advocacy group, EmpowerEd, helped implement as part of a teacher wellness initiative, former DCPS teacher Scott Goldstein said: “No other single factor made as much of a difference in boosting educator morale and allowing them to focus on teaching and learning.” 

Teacher morale and classroom engagement aren’t the only reasons cellphone restrictions are needed, say those who support a ban. Many school leaders, health experts, and even some parents and students worry that unbounded device use harms students’ mental health. 

Studies confirm consistently that excessive cellphone use—as well as commonplace digital behaviors today, like endless scrolling—heighten teens’ feelings of anxiety and depression. Personal device use is also making kids lonelier, it seems. Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General sounded the alarm bell about a growing “epidemic of loneliness” among young people. Kids, he warned, now spend less time with friends than ever before.

Understandably, that is hugely concerning. Those who support a ban argue that cellphone-free schools could help kids unplug from technology and have reprieve from addictive, anxiety- and depression-inducing social media.

There’s even hope that device restrictions can diminish incidents of cyberbullying, though further research is needed to have better clarity on the effectiveness. One parent who spoke to the State Board recently urged in-school cellphone restrictions, citing cyberbullying. She recounted:

“My daughter is a high school student… This past Halloween, my daughter dressed up as Garfield and headed to school. While she was in the hallway, another student came up to her and punched her in the stomach, while another student filmed the incident. My daughter is epileptic, and the punch could have caused serious harm. When I picked my daughter up from school that day, she was more worried about the video circulating on social media…” 

The case against bans.

Not all see cellphones as irredeemably harmful though. Parents and students mostly—but even some teachers—see the benefits to devices in schools.

There are many reasons parents want students to bring a cellphone to school. About 6 in 10 say they want to preserve channels for general communications throughout the day with their children. Around half want their students to be able to plan after-school activities and transportation. But preponderantly, the most common reason parents say they want their students to have cellphones in school is to communicate with them and confirm their safety during emergencies.

Can they be faulted? The last two decades have known unimaginable violence occurring on school grounds. At K-12 schools alone, there have been nearly 1,400 shootings that have resulted in more than 500 deaths. And the tales and images from these devastating events, amplified by mass media coverage, have understandably inflamed parental anxieties. How could a parent not insist on real-time communication with their kid? 

On-campus violence and horrors aren’t the only types of emergencies reinforcing parents’ stance, either. There are also concerns about commute safety. Nearly 50% of surveyed District students say they feel unsafe due to community-based violence while commuting to and from school.

“Neighborhood violence and tragedies are too often realities in some communities,” Nicole Travers of the DC Charter School Alliance told the State Board. “The ability for parents and children to communicate if trouble is looming or present provides peace of mind,” she said. Carlene Reid, outgoing State Board member representing Ward 8, says that students have echoed similar sentiments to her. “My parents can get me information faster than my teacher can,” she recounts students telling her.

In September, the State Board’s Student Advisory Committee, a group comprising about 90 high schoolers from across the District, met to discuss student perspectives about in-school cellphone access. Similar to parents, the students felt that having direct communication capabilities during emergency situations is a top reason to have cellphone access during school. 

Overall, the Student Advisory Committee overwhelmingly said they’d like moderate allowances for in-school cellphone use. Emergency communication wasn’t their only justification, either. Cellphones and social media, they say, offer some unique social benefits, especially for teens looking to engage special-interest communities and mental health resources. Online education resources and tools, they feel, are also more accessible when device use is permitted.

Some teachers also recognize that cellphones can be used in the classroom to support learning—from group project coordination and research to engagement with interactive instructional platforms. Some argue that banning these opportunities fails to prepare students with modern workplace skills and habits.

Finding a balance.

The District does not currently have a uniform, city-wide policy concerning students’ in-school cellphone use. But as other states and education institutions move to address the matter, the District will presumably need to articulate some coherent, community-informed position of its own. What better time than the present to start formulating it?

Perhaps it doesn’t have to be a blanket, bell-to-bell ban, which is highly unpopular with parents and students. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be completely unrestricted cellphone access, filled with the distractions educators find unacceptable. Maybe there’s a middle ground that can be found where all members of the education community feel heard, respected and served. 

The State Board has some food for thought for a way forward, courtesy of experts and community members who testified during its December 11^th public meeting.

As always, the State Board is committed to being a partner with the broader District education community to effectuate an education experience that serves constituent needs.