Schools across the U.S. restrict cellphones amid growing behavior, mental health, academic concerns
High school students who started school at Kansas City's Ewing Marion Kauffman School saw something new when they entered their classrooms: a cellphone lockbox.
A new policy requires all high school students to lock away their phones for the day. Students drop their mobiles into the box, which is designed for phones, and it's locked into after school hours, said Deon Whitten, dean of students at the charter school. The restrictions were instituted after a pilot study in 2023 with one ninth grade class showed those phone-free students had the highest GPA across the school, said Whitten.
Once administrators saw the academic achievements the decision to restrict phones came easily. "There is a certain pressure with phones," said Whitten, 39, who has been at the charter school for about three years. "Now they could go to school and just be students. They don't have to worry."
Teachers and administrators have long known cellphones were major distractions in learning: A 2023 Pew survey showed 72% of high school teachers view cellphones as a major problem in their classrooms.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on the effects of social media on youth mental health. This week he also issued an advisory on "parental stress," specifically naming monitoring children's phone use as a cause.
But it's not just about academics. Cellphone restrictions can also assist with social development and creating community at the school, Kim Whitman a parent turned advocate told CBS News. Whitman, a co-founder of Phone Free, started advocating for no mobiles in schools after her children started their education. She said their organization surveys schools across the country that report massive behavioral issues, including fights planned on social media and an increasingly "anxious" generation. Whitman said if schools "allow phones to be present it's hard for students to connect and create a sense of belonging."
Some students concede having a phone in class distracted them from learning, and not having them felt better. "I'm not worried about the notifications I'm getting and who's texting me or what's going on on social media," Jazmine Anderson, an eighth grader at Martin Luther King Middle School in Virginia, told CBS News.
Administrators and communities listened: About 76% of public schools prohibit non-academic use of cellphones or smartphones during school hours, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.
But not every district wants to deal with a ban. Some parents want to have access to their children for safety concerns — or in the event of everyone's worst nightmare, a mass shooting — or for more mundane reasons, like coordinating rides or after-school scheduling. Virginia's Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order in the state that requires districts to limit or ban cell phones by Jan. 1, even though many are already piloting programs. He told CBS News' Meg Oliver that as a parent he understands there still are "very practical concerns that need to be put in place," and families often need to be in touch during the day.
Other teachers and administrators don't want to become what some New York City educators described to CBS New York as the "phone police," risking wasting time on enforcing the ban or arguing with students about their phones. The country's largest school district proposed a ban, but ultimately wasn't able to get phone restrictions in place before the 2024 school year, CBS New York reported.
Kansas City's Whitten says things have gone fairly smoothly with the implementation, but before instituting the no cellphone rule they had to get buy-in from parents. Some pushed back, Whitten said, concerned about safety and being in touch with their children in case of a mass shooting or other events, and some parents he said, just want control.
Other large school districts, such as Los Angeles, were able to ban phones on school campuses. Florida banned cellphones across the state in 2023 and Indiana and Ohio passed legislation this year.
Other schools are approaching it piecemeal, district by district.
Granite School District in Utah restricted cellphone use in schools this year, buying pouches to allow students to keep their phones on them, CBS affiliate KUTV reported. "There's a lot of bullying and harassment going on through social media (and) through texting that's distracting," said Andrea Stringham, Granite School District spokesperson. It's also something that would "just help our students overall — academically, mentally, emotionally," she said.
New Jersey's Cherry Hill Public School District said they are instituting their new cellphone restrictions, which were passed in August, in steps. Superintendent Kwame Morton told CBS News after much discussion kids are going to be allowed to keep their cellphones on their person during school hours, but aren't allowed to use them during instructional hours. Students who don't follow the rules will be subject to the school's disciplinary policy, he said. Morton said after some pushback from vocal parents, the school decided to go with the least restrictive route.
Morton said there was a consensus around concerns for students and constant access to mobile devices. "Kids are just growing up with a constant barrage on their mental health," he said.