argumentative essay about cell phone should be banned in school

Argumentative Essay Example: Cell Phones Should Be Banned in Schools

Do you ever sit in a class and realize that students aren’t paying attention because they are distracted by their cell phones? In free periods, just about every student sits on their phone with their head down. Why waste time when you can spend that free time doing school work or interacting with others? In other classes, students are missing out on information because they are on their cell phones. Cell phones are just setting up students for failure. Do we really want students to fail? No. Cell phones should be banned in schools. 

The main reason why students miss out on  information is because of cell phones. When students sit on their cell phones during class, it makes it very difficult for them to stay focused. Since the use of cell phones has increased, cyberbullying is also starting to increase. During the school day, if a student sees that they are left out of a group chat or sees a photo to which they compare themselves too, can make it hard for them to stay focused throughout the school day.

Along with students being distracted, cell phones have caused a decline in communication between students. Joe Clemet, a U.S. government teacher, and Matt Miles, also a teacher, have said that “free periods have deteriorated from lively talk among students and teachers to silent screen reading, each student in a little world.” Clement thought that he could bring back the lively talk of students during a free period class by restricting cell phones. Students responded by not showing up and going to a different free period class where cell phones weren’t  restricted. It has also been found that cell phone use increases the rate of depression. Face-to-face time with friends decreases depression. Creating a school environment without cell phones can help students have a face-to-face interaction with others. This will help create a healthy environment for students in school. 

Furthermore, cell phone use does not boost achievement. Students who are on their cell phones during class time, tend to perform worse on tests (usually a full letter grade or more). According to a study in 2017, some participants were told to keep their cell phones nearby, and the other participants were told to put their cell phones in a different room. Each participant was asked to perform a memory task. The participants with their cell phones did much worse than the participants who didn’t have their cell phones. For instance, in one of my classes, I see students who don’t even pick up their heads because they are on their cell phones. When it's time for them to take a test, they have no idea what they are doing. When they get their test grade back, they seem to not know why they performed so poorly. They performed so poorly because they were distracted by their cell phone. They don’t realize all the information they missed out on. Some schools have changed their cell phone policy and they saw an increase in test scores by 6.41%. This shows that cell phones are causing students to perform poorly. 

Finally, some schools believe that the use of cell phones should not be banned. Some schools have even worked cell phones into the daily curriculum. From text reminders to school apps, cell phones are making the learning system much easier. Even though cell phones are making the learning system easier,  there will be a higher chance that students will cheat, cell phones will still cause distractions, and there will still be less interaction. Even if cell phones are useful tools for the learning system, they still won’t solve these problems. 

In conclusion, cell phones create an unhealthy environment for students. They cause distractions, failure, and less interactions. Cell phones are an unhealthy distraction for students. They should be banned in schools.

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Should Cell Phones Be Banned In The Classroom Argumentative Essay Examples

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Safety , Mobile Phones , Telephone , Students , Learning , Cell Phones , Education , Nation

Words: 1250

Published: 02/19/2020

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According to The National School Safety and Security Services, an Ohio-based national school consulting firm that provides services to schools, government agencies and public safety organizations, among others, across the US, on a contracted basis, people have been particularly alerted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. For that reason, in light of national tragedies, parents wished their children to carry a cell phone at school, as a means have direct communication should an emergency occurs or be reassured their children are safe to and from school. But, is carrying a cell phone at school the same as using it in class? Definitely not. Student safety is other than using cells phones for gang and drug activities, like when a decade ago (The National School Safety and Security Services). The most prevailing reason for banning cell phones in class is because they are “disruptive to the educational environment” (The National School Safety and Security Services). Strayer and Johnston(2001) have concluded that any cell phone conversation, and even the ring of the cell phone, is enough to disrupt any secondary task performance, and that any conversation or answer to a texted message requires the voluntary attentional control processes that had to utilize the resources used in other ongoing activities. So, it is obvious that when people try to focus on a specific task, for example pay attention to a lecture, the use or ringing of the cell phone will make them turn their mind away from their primarily goal and focus on something else, setting back their learning process. We may live in a world where task switching and multi-tasking is required to cope with the increased responsibilities. However, switching between cognitive tasks has not yet proven to be an effective learning method. As a matter of fact, Monsell (2003) from the School of Psychology, University of Exeter, has concluded that people who task-switch are slower and more prone to make mistakes in their ongoing task activity, as soon as they are called to turn their focus on another task too. Again, it is apparent that cell phone use in class will distract not only the student that will need to answer their cell phone, send a text, refresh their status in social networks, surf the internet, or use the cell phone any other way, but also other students that will watch a fellow student using the phone, searching in their bag to find their vibrating cell phone or using it in any other given way. In terms of school safety, The National School Safety and Security Services reports that there have been numerous cases when students have used their cell phones to make school-bomb threat pranks, and surprisingly enough, most such calls could never be traced. Additionally, in a crisis, the hundreds, and in many cases thousands, phone calls from cell phones usually overloads the school’s telephone system, making it practically useless (The National School Safety and Security Services). In other words, the use of cell phones at schools could probably cause more harm than good during a crisis. Consequently, due to students’ unreachability, parents tend to swarm the school at a time when the school needs to be evacuated for safety reasons, making things worse. On the other hand, no one can accuse parents for worrying about their children’s safety when out of the house, which is probably wiser to allow students carry their cell phones at school, but turn them off during teaching time. An article posted in the Guardian on November 27, 2012, written by Patrick Barkham and Stephen Moss, author/writer and author/editor respectively, mentions that the Scottish government regards mobile use in class a distracting influence that promoted cyberbullying, not to mention cheating in tests, which raises new concerns in academia, as per . Opposing views support that mobile phones can become learning tools and be incorporated in a new updated learning process. Journalist Josh Higgins wrote an insightful article posted in USA Today, in August, 2013, according to which, there have been attempts to implement motivating programs that urged students to use their mobile devices, like their cell phones, for schoolwork. For instance, in Mason High School near Cincinnati, students use mobile apps and the internet to provide “feedback on student progress, and also to document labs, collaborate on group projects and capture teachers' notes”. Unfortunately, though, the director of the US. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, Richard Culatta, admitted that a profound 80 percent of US schools lack infrastructure to support digital learning (Higgins). Hopefully, this shall change in the years to come. A major national survey initiated by Dr. S. John Obringer, Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Mississippi State University, and Dr. Kent Coffey, a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Mississippi State University has showed that it was classroom teachers, rather than students, that had actually used their cell phone for non-school business, while they practicing their role as educators, in class (41). But, could banning cell phone use prove effective? A project called The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project that was undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan, documents that school bans are not effective (Pew Internet). In detail, about 65 percent of students that own a cell phone use it to send texts during class, in schools that forbid the use of cell phones in class. Unquestionably, young people today, like students, are very familiar with new technologies and advanced uses of mobile phones. It is true that cell phones in class can be used to distract students from learning and an ongoing class task, but, at the same time, they can be used as learning tools. It all depends on how they are used and how motivated are students and educators alike to go with the flow and implement new technologies in the learning process that will make learning easier for all. However, imposing penalties and restricting the use of cell phones in class might not be the best means to effectively act; but finding resourceful ways to incorporate a favorite trend and habit among youths to enhance learning as the world has known it so far is definitely something worth seeing into.

Works Cited:

Barkham, Patrick and Moss, Stephen (2012). Should mobile phones be banned in schools? The Guardian. Website. Higgins, Josh (2013). More schools use cellphones as learning tools. USA Today. Website. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2013/08/07/views-shift-on-cell-phones-in-schools/2607381/> Monsell S. Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2003;17:134–140. Pubmed.gov. Website. Obringer, John and Coffey, Kent (n.d). Cell Phones in American High Schools: A National Survey. The Journal of Technology Studies. V.33. Nr.1. 41-45. <http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v33/v33n1/obringer.pdf> PEW Internet (2010). Press Release: Teens and Mobile Phones. Website. <http://pewinternet.org/Press-Releases/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx> The National School Safety and Security Services (n.d). Cell Phones and Text Messaging in Schools. Website. <http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/cell_phones.html> Strayer DL, Johnston WA. Driven to distraction: Dual-task studies of simulated driving and conversing on a cellular telephone. Psychological Science. 2001;12:462–466. Pubmed.gov. Website.

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Why Schools Should Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom—and Why Parents Have to Help

New study shows it takes a young brain 20 minutes to refocus after using a cell phone in a classroom

Photo by skynesher/iStock

Parents, the next time you are about to send a quick trivial text message to your students while they’re at school—maybe sitting in a classroom—stop. And think about this: it might take them only 10 seconds to respond with a thumbs-up emoji, but their brain will need 20 minutes to refocus on the algebra or history or physics lesson in front of them— 20 minutes .

That was just one of the many findings in a recent report from a 14-country study by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) that prompted this headline in the Washington Post : “Schools should ban smartphones. Parents should help.” The study recommends a ban on smartphones at school for students of all ages, and says the data are unequivocal, showing that countries that enforce restrictions see improved academic performance and less bullying.

It’s a fraught debate, one that prompts frustration among educators, who say students are less focused than ever as schools struggle to enforce cell phone limitation policies, and rage from some parents, worrying about a possible shooting when they can’t get in touch, who insist they need to be able to reach their children at all times. And, perhaps surprisingly, it prompts a collective yawn from students.

In fact, students openly admit their cell phones distract them and that they focus better in school without them, says Joelle Renstrom , a senior lecturer in rhetoric at Boston University’s College of General Studies. It’s an issue she has studied for years. She even performed an experiment with her students that supports what she long suspected: Cell Phones + Classrooms = Bad Learning Environment.

BU Today spoke with Renstrom about the latest study and research.

with Joelle Renstrom

Bu today: let me get right to the point. do we as a society need to be better about restricting cell phones in classrooms it seems so obvious..

Renstrom: Of course. But it is easier said than done. It’s hard to be consistent. We will always have students with some kind of reason, or a note from someone, that gives them access to technology. And then it becomes hard to explain why some people can have it and some people can’t. But student buy-in to the idea is important.

BU Today: But is getting students to agree more important than getting schools and parents to agree? Is it naive to think that students are supposed to follow the rules that we as parents and teachers set for them?

Renstrom: I have made the case before that addiction to phones is kind of like second-hand smoking. If you’re young and people around you are using it, you are going to want it, too. Every baby is like that. They want to reach for it, it’s flashing, their parents are on it all the time. Students openly acknowledge they are addicted. Their digital lives are there. But they also know there is this lack of balance in their lives. I do think buy-in is important. But do it as an experiment. Did it work? What changes did it make? Did it make you anxious or distracted during those 50 minutes in class? I did that for years. I surveyed students for a number of semesters; how do you feel about putting your phone in a pouch? They made some predictions and said what they thought about how annoying it was. But at the end, they talked about how those predictions [played out], and whether they were better able to focus. It was very, very clear they were better able to focus. Also interestingly, not a single student left during class to get a drink or go to the bathroom. They had been 100 percent doing that just so they could use their phone.

BU Today: Should we be talking about this question, cell phones in classrooms, for all ages, middle school all the way through college? Or does age matter?

Renstrom: It’s never going to be universal. Different families, different schools. And there is, on some level, a safety issue. I do not blame parents for thinking, if there’s someone with a gun in school, I need a way to reach my kids. What if all the phones are in pouches when someone with a gun comes in? It’s crazy that we even have to consider that.

BU Today: What’s one example of something that can be changed easily?

Renstrom: Parents need to stop calling their kids during the day. Stop doing that. What you are doing is setting that kid up so that they are responding to a bot 24-7 when they shouldn’t be. If you’re a kid who gets a text from your parent in class, you are conditioned to respond and to know that [the parent] expects a response. It adds so much anxiety to people’s lives. It all just ends up in this anxiety loop. When kids are in school, leave them alone. Think about what that phone is actually meant for. When you gave them a phone, you said it’s in case of an emergency or if you need to be picked up in a different place. Make those the parameters. If it’s just to confirm, “I’m still picking you up at 3,” then no, don’t do that. Remember when we didn’t have to confirm? There is a time and place for this, for all technology.

BU Today: This latest study, how do you think people will react to it?

Renstrom: This isn’t new. How many studies have to come out to say that cured meat is terrible and is carcinogenic. People are like, “Oh, don’t tell me what to eat. Or when to be on my phone.” This gets real contentious, real fast because telling people what’s good for them is hard.

BU Today: I can understand that—but in this case we’re not telling adults to stop being on their phones. We’re saying help get your kids off their phones in classrooms, for their health and education.

Renstrom: Studies show kids’ brains, and their gray matter, are low when they are on screens. School is prime habit-forming time. You should not sit in class within view of the professor, laughing while they are talking about World War II. There is a social appropriateness that needs to be learned. Another habit that needs to be addressed is the misconception of multitasking. We are under this misconception we all can do it. And we can’t. You might think, I can listen to this lecture while my sister texts me. That is not supported by science or studies. It is literally derailing you. Your brain jumps off to another track and has to get back on. If you think you have not left that first track, you are wrong.

BU Today: So what next steps would you like to see?

Renstrom: I would like to see both schools and families be more assertive about this. But also to work together. If the parents are anti-smartphone policy, it doesn’t matter if the school is pro-policy. If there is a war between parents and schools, I am not sure much will happen. Some kind of intervention and restriction is better than just ripping it away from kids. The UNESCO study found it is actually even worse for university students. We are all coming at this problem from all different ways. Pouches or banned phones. Or nothing.

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Doug Most is a lifelong journalist and author whose career has spanned newspapers and magazines up and down the East Coast, with stops in Washington, D.C., South Carolina, New Jersey, and Boston. He was named Journalist of the Year while at The Record in Bergen County, N.J., for his coverage of a tragic story about two teens charged with killing their newborn. After a stint at Boston Magazine , he worked for more than a decade at the Boston Globe in various roles, including magazine editor and deputy managing editor/special projects. His 2014 nonfiction book, The Race Underground , tells the story of the birth of subways in America and was made into a PBS/American Experience documentary. He has a BA in political communication from George Washington University. Profile

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There are 14 comments on Why Schools Should Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom—and Why Parents Have to Help

i found this very helpful with my research

It was a great research, helped me a lot.

I think that this was helpful, but there is an ongoing question at my school, which is, though phones may be negative to health and knowledge and they’re a distraction what happens if there was a shooting or a fire or a dangourus weather event and you don’t have a phone to tell your parents or guardians at home if you are alright? (Reply answer if have one)

Yeah they would get an amber alert

well, the school has the technology that can help communicate that to the parents, and if that were to happen, I guess that’s why there’s always a cell phone in the classrooms those old-time ones, but I feel it would not be okay in case of a shooting since you have to go silence, and on the moment of fire or weather everything happens so fast in the moment.

In schools all teachers have cell phones. So one way or the other the messages would get out to the parents as needed. If a student gets on the cell phone to inform the parent about the activity, that’s taken place it could cause panic. School staffs are informed as to how to handle such situations.. what I have seen take place in classes are students who are texting each other either in the same room or in another classroom during the school time. Many students spend time on YouTube and not concentrating what’s going on in the classroom.

I think that this was helpful, but there is an ongoing question at my school, which is, though phones may be negative to health and knowledge and they’re a distraction what happens if there is a shooting or a fire or a dangerous weather event and you don’t have a phone to tell your parents or guardians at home if you are alright?

I am writing a paper and this is very helpful thank you.

I am writing a paper and this is very helpful but it is true what if our mom or dad have to contact us we need phones!

this helped me with my school project about whether cell phones should be banned in school. I think yes but the class is saying no. I think it’s because I was raised without a phone so I know how to survive and contact my parents without a phone. but anyway, this helped me with my essay! thank you!

I don’t think phones should be allowed in school, and this is perfect backup! Thank you Doug

great infromation for debate

Thanks, this helped a lot I’m working on an essay and this has been really helpful.by the way, some people may think, but what if i need to call my mom/dad/guardian. but the real thing is, there is a high chance that there will be a telephone near you. or if it’s something that only you want them to know,go ahead and ask your teacher if you can go to the office.

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Bans may help protect classroom focus, but districts need to stay mindful of students’ sense of connection, experts say

Students around the world are being separated from their phones.

In 2020, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 77 percent of U.S. schools had moved to prohibit cellphones for nonacademic purposes. In September 2018, French lawmakers outlawed cellphone use for schoolchildren under the age of 15. In China, phones were banned country-wide for schoolchildren last year.

Supporters of these initiatives have cited links between smartphone use and bullying and social isolation and the need to keep students focused on schoolwork.

77% Of U.S. schools moved to ban cellphones for nonacademic purposes as of 2020, according to the National Center for Education Statistics

But some Harvard experts say instructors and administrators should consider learning how to teach with tech instead of against it, in part because so many students are still coping with academic and social disruptions caused by the pandemic. At home, many young people were free to choose how and when to use their phones during learning hours. Now, they face a school environment seeking to take away their main source of connection.

“Returning back to in-person, I think it was hard to break the habit,” said Victor Pereira, a lecturer on education and co-chair of the Teaching and Teaching Leadership Program at the Graduate School of Education.

Through their students, he and others with experience both in the classroom and in clinical settings have seen interactions with technology blossom into important social connections that defy a one-size-fits-all mindset. “Schools have been coming back, trying to figure out, how do we readjust our expectations?” Pereira added.

It’s a hard question, especially in the face of research suggesting that the mere presence of a smartphone can undercut learning .

Michael Rich , an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and an associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says that phones and school don’t mix: Students can’t meaningfully absorb information while also texting, scrolling, or watching YouTube videos.

“The human brain is incapable of thinking more than one thing at a time,” he said. “And so what we think of as multitasking is actually rapid-switch-tasking. And the problem with that is that switch-tasking may cover a lot of ground in terms of different subjects, but it doesn’t go deeply into any of them.”

Pereira’s approach is to step back — and to ask whether a student who can’t resist the phone is a signal that the teacher needs to work harder on making a connection. “Two things I try to share with my new teachers are, one, why is that student on the phone? What’s triggering getting on your cell phone versus jumping into our class discussion, or whatever it may be? And then that leads to the second part, which is essentially classroom management.

“Design better learning activities, design learning activities where you consider how all of your students might want to engage and what their interests are,” he said. He added that allowing phones to be accessible can enrich lessons and provide opportunities to use technology for school-related purposes.

Mesfin Awoke Bekalu, a research scientist in the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at the Chan School, argues that more flexible classroom policies can create opportunities for teaching tech-literacy and self-regulation.

“There is a huge, growing body of literature showing that social media platforms are particularly helpful for people who need resources or who need support of some kind, beyond their proximate environment,” he said. A study he co-authored by Rachel McCloud and Vish Viswanath for the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness shows that this is especially true for marginalized groups such as students of color and LGBTQ students. But the findings do not support a free-rein policy, Bekalu stressed.

In the end, Rich, who noted the particular challenges faced by his patients with attention-deficit disorders and other neurological conditions, favors a classroom-by-classroom strategy. “It can be managed in a very local way,” he said, adding: “It’s important for parents, teachers, and the kids to remember what they are doing at any point in time and focus on that. It’s really only in mono-tasking that we do very well at things.”

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Banning mobile phones in schools: beneficial or risky? Here’s what the evidence says

Distinguished Research Professor, Monash University

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Neil Selwyn receives research funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT), Australian Communications Consumer Action Network & AuDA Foundation.

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Victorian education minister James Merlino’s announcement mobile phones will be banned for all students at state primary and secondary schools is certainly a bold move.

The policy has been justified as a direct response to mounting levels of cyberbullying, concerns over distractions and schools struggling with discipline relating to students’ misuse of phones.

Students will have to switch off their phones and store them in lockers from the start of the school day until the final bell. In case of an emergency, parents or guardians can reach their child by calling the school.

The minister said in a statement :

The only exceptions to the ban will be where students use phones to monitor health conditions, or where teachers instruct students to bring their phone for a particular classroom activity.

Whether to allow student use of mobile phones in school is certainly a hot topic in education. The Victorian announcement follows a French government ban on mobiles in school in 2018. Debates on the issue are also taking place in Denmark , Sweden and the United Kingdom .

There is considerable public support for banning mobiles. In our recently conducted survey of more than 2,000 Australian adults, nearly 80% supported a ban on mobile phones in classrooms. Just under one-third supported an outright ban from schools altogether.

Support for a classroom ban was remarkably consistent across different demographics, including political affiliation and age group.

But while banning phones from classrooms, and from school altogether, might seem sensible, there are number of reasons to be cautious. It’s clear we need to carefully consider how we want to make use of digital devices being brought into schools. But previous experience, such as in New York, suggests a blanket ban might introduce even more problems.

And the little research evidence that addresses the issue is mixed.

What’s the evidence?

Reports of cyberbullying have clearly gone up among school-aged children and young people over the past ten years, but the nature and precedents of cyberbullying are complex.

Research suggests there is a large overlap between cyberbullying and traditional forms of bullying, which wouldn’t then follow that digital devices are somehow causing these behaviours.

Cyberbullying also often takes place outside school hours and premises. There is a danger banning phones from classrooms might distract education staff from having to continue with efforts to address the more immediate causes of cyberbullying.

Read more: Teenagers need our support, not criticism, as they navigate life online

There is also a growing literature exploring the links between digital devices and classroom distractions. The presence of phones in the classroom is certainly found to be a source of multi-tasking among students of all ages – some of which can be educationally relevant and much of which might not.

But the impact of these off-task behaviours on student learning outcomes is difficult to determine. A review of 132 academic studies concluded, it is

difficult to determine directions and mechanisms of the causal relations between mobile phone multitasking and academic performance.

There is also a strong sense from classroom research that issues of distraction apply equally to laptops , iPads and other digital devices.

All told, the sense from academic literature is that the realities of smartphone use in classrooms are complex and decidedly messy. Our own research into how smartphones are being used in Victorian classrooms highlighted the difficulties teachers face in policing student use (what some teachers described as requiring “five minutes of firefighting” at the beginning of every lesson).

Despite this, we also found instances of students using smartphones for a range of beneficial purposes – from impromptu information seeking to live-streaming lessons for sick classmates.

Read more: Schools are asking students to bring digital devices to class, but are they actually being used?

These benefits are also reflected in classroom studies elsewhere in the world. Research from Stanford University has demonstrated , for instance, that with proper support and preparation, teachers in even the most challenging schools can “build on the ways students already use technology outside of school to help them learn in the classroom”.

There is now a whole academic field known as “ m-Learning ” where researchers have explored the pedagogical and learning advantages of using mobile devices (including phones) in lessons.

But what about a blanket ban from school altogether? Experience from elsewhere suggests enforcing a mobile ban in schools may not be as easy as it sounds.

What we can learn from others

The New South Wales government announced a review into the benefits and risks of mobile phone use in schools in June 2018, led by child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg. At the review’s completion, the government said it would only ban mobile phones from the state’s primary schools, leaving secondary schools free to make their own choice.

We recognise that technology plays an important and increasing role as students progress through their education […] We want to give secondary schools the flexibility to balance the benefits and risks of technology in the way that best supports their students.

Perhaps the most pertinent example is the ban enforced in New York City from 2006, that was eventually lifted in 2015.

The reasons given for this reversal highlighted several of the concerns the new ban in Victoria will likely face. They include practical difficulties of enforcing a ban in the classroom being exacerbated by banning of phone use during break times and lunchtimes.

First, it was clear the New York ban was being inconsistently enforced by schools – with better resourced schools in more affluent areas more likely to bend the rules and permit student use. In contrast, schools in lower-income areas with metal detectors were more likely to be rigidly enforcing the ban.

Other motivations for lifting the ban were concerns over student safety such as the need for students to contact family members during break times and lunchtimes. Families were also incurring costs to store phones securely outside of the school. There was also a recognition teachers should be trusted to exercise their professional judgement as to how they could be making good educational use of devices in their lessons.

Read more: Should mobile phones be banned in schools? We asked five experts

At the same time, it was reckoned government resources were better directed toward supporting students to learn how to use technology responsibly through cyber-safety lessons.

All these reasons are as relevant now to Victorian schools as they were to New York City schools in 2015. The use (and non-use) of mobile phones in schools is certainly an issue we need to have a proper conversation about. But it might not be as clear-cut as the recent policy announcements suggest.

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Debate # 6: Cell Phones should be Banned in the Classroom?

This week’s debate regarding the use and existence of cell phones in the classroom generated a lot of interesting points, making it even more difficult for me to decide whether I agree or disagree. The agreed team includes Echo, Lovepreet, and Amanpreet, while disagreeing team members include Bret, Reid, and Leona. Both the team did a wonderful job of representing their arguments. I believe that the effects of mobiles phones at school is a hotly debated topic in many countries. Some advocate for a complete ban to limit distractions, while others suggest using technology as a teaching tool. Schools have introduced the bans for various reasons including to improve academic outcomes and decrease bullying as its indicate in this article by agreed team.. Several researches point to positive impact of banning mobile phones at school on student performance and other outcomes. Understanding the evidence is crucial for best policy.

Smartphones make it difficult for students to concentrate in class. Kids might play games, watch videos, or check out apps instead of paying attention to the teacher. They can easily miss important information. Plus, a ringing or buzzing phone distracts other students.

Also, some kids might be tempted to use their phones to cheat. They could go online and look up answers during a test, or they could text their friends for help. It’s critical that they don’t bring their phones to school – not only because of the distraction in class, but also because there are issues with students filming each other or the teachers, or taking pictures of the teacher. The amount of online bullying and peer-on-peer harassment drops when mobile phones are banned.

In class, students frequently forget to switch off their phones, causing ringing noises or text message notifications to disrupt learning and schoolwork. Since text messaging has become a high-tech form of sharing notes in school, cell phones can still cause distraction for students and educators, even if they are set to silent.

Young people and adults, as seen in the popular Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma from 2020, have an addiction and need to check their phones and notifications anytime they are available. This would suggest that even when the phone’s sound is turned off or the phone is switched off completely, the mere existence of the phone might be distracting. Increased screen usage has also been linked to negative effects on learning and development. There is emerging   evidence  that phones can be a distraction to learning.

As one of the agreed debtors raises an important point that allowing cell phones in schools will give rise to an unhealthy, unwanted competition as students with expensive and latest model phones will overwhelm those who have got low-cost or old model phones. Not only would there be disparity within a single group but parents would be under constant pressure to get new expensive phones for their children  

Additionally, students might also start browsing irrelevant, inappropriate websites and waste their time which can be utilized for studies. Also, they will be negatively influenced by the content of badly chosen sites which will hamper their overall growth, mindset, and personality as indicated by this article mentioned by the agreed team.

While the problems with cellphones in school are valid, and clear consequences for misuse should be enforced, implementing a blanket policy forbidding the resource altogether would be severely  counter-intuitive and unrealistic! as explained by the disagreed team.

Reasons Why Phones in School Should Be Allowed in an article :

1. Cellphones in school are inevitable.

2. Phones in school are good for the environment!

3. Phones in school teach digital literacy.

4. Phones in school improve communication.

5. Cellphones in school increase flexibility, convenience, and organization.

6. Phones in school increase a sense of safety.

7. Phones in school saves up money.

8. Phones in school provide easy access to information.

9. Cellphones in school provide supplementary learning materials.

10. Cellphones in school serves as a memory aid.

11. Phones in school promote independence.

Listed above are just some of the few reasons why innovative schools across the world are integrating smartphones into the classroom.

The  “ Bring Your Own Device ”  (BYOD) movement, which began in the school world as an approach to increase students’ morale and productivity, is now being adopted by more and more schools.

The Bottom Line: Should Students Have Cell Phones In School?

There’s no easy answer: For me, there are both pros and cons to students having cell phones in school. Although they can be used as a learning tool in the classroom, this only works as long as students use them effectively.

This means for teachers who decide to use cell phones (or any other digital device) as part of their lessons, it’s important to set ground rules and keep a close eye on how they are being used. Finding that balance between appropriate cellphone use and knowing when to take a break and turn off the device is something we need to strive for. This may not be easy, but it is possible if teachers and students are willing to cooperate and put the work in.

21 thoughts on “ Debate # 6: Cell Phones should be Banned in the Classroom? ”

Great job summarizing both sides of the debate. I agree with you we must attempt to strike a balance between appropriate smartphone use and understanding when to take a break and turn off the gadget, It is totally dependent upon teachers and students who are willing to work together and put in the effort.

Thank you Shivali for your interesting comment! I truly believe that balance in everything is a key to success as well as cooperation between educators and students in the classroom is also important in a way of achieving success.

Agreed I think that it is a bad thing to have cell phones in class because u wouldn’t get any work done I agree greatly that’ it should be banned

I belive that it is ok for students to have them as said in the article if they are compltally banned it will become counter-intuitave but over time students can quickly learn and get the habit of self disecplene and for themselves will know when it is the right time to use them

The points about cellphones is good and relevant. Can you take me to your country I Will bring more studies

Great response! The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is an interesting way of looking to the future and getting students ready for their careers and the real world once they are finished their education. People will have cellphones/devices with them constantly, so it is imperative to stay current and utilize the technology available.

Thank you Reid for your insightful comment !! I believe that BYOD should be promoted in classroom because it promotes greater participation in the classroom. When new technologies are incorporated into everyday learning, students quickly become more interested in the material, and thus more likely to succeed as well as it also fosters a positive image in the community and can work wonders in attracting students outside of school lines.

thats cool and all, but like, who asked?

omg sooo slay

This is a really great website to use in a argumentative essay but make sure you cite your evidence. I am writing a essay about the cell phones being banned in school and I agree with the banning them and if some really need a phone get a doctor note. Thank you for the the help with my essay.

i think they should it could be used for safety like if someone is dying u could call 911 on ur phone

I agreed but it is not good It accommodate distraction

I agree because it’s just a huge distraction to kids and phones aren’t that important

im scared of spiders

I agree but I think kids should be able to use their phones outside of classes and should be able to use them at appropriate times

Kids should use their phones outside the school. It decrease distraction

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Opinion Why we should ban smartphones in schools

Rare is the essay that can change lives. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written one.

On Tuesday, Haidt published “ Get Phones Out of Schools Now ” for the Atlantic, cross-posted from his “ After Babel ” Substack. If you haven’t made up your mind about the advisability of young people taking smartphones to school, Haidt’s careful, well-documented argument will likely move you into the “do not allow” camp.

Some parents might even be persuaded to take a bigger step and simply treat kids’ access to smartphones like access to the car keys: When you’re old enough to drive, you’re old enough to have a smartphone.

Comparing today with just four years ago, Haidt writes, “The case for phone-free schools is much stronger now.” Evidence has lately become clear that phones are addling young minds and that there is a causal link between their use and skyrocketing mental health issues among the young. (As if that weren’t enough to make you want to grab children’s phones away from them, the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday published a horrifying article, “Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network.”)

Haidt succinctly summarizes his findings: “So the time is right for parents and educators to ask: Should we make the school day phone-free? Would that reduce rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm? Would it improve educational outcomes? I believe that the answer to all of these questions is yes.”

Commonplace but feckless school rules about not using phones during class aren’t sufficient (and are ignored anyway). He’s talking about barring students from physically possessing a phone at school anywhere, anytime. Phones should be essentially locked up in the morning and returned at the end of the school day, Haidt says.

One study he cites found that students’ test scores dropped the closer they were to a phone, even if it wasn’t in use . The potential for distraction was itself distracting.

“All children deserve schools that will help them learn, cultivate deep friendships, and develop into mentally healthy young adults,” he concludes. “All children deserve phone-free schools.”

Will schools, school boards and parents act? If they don’t, should state legislatures? How about the Education Department, with its vast resources , the allocation of which could be conditioned on compliance with regulations adopted through notice-and-comment rulemaking?

The solution is obvious but not inevitable. The trouble will be the bubble. The trouble is always the bubble.

There are “blue bubbles” and “red bubbles” and bubbles for every point of view, cultural value or political inclination. They all function like the enormous, menacing bubble in the mostly forgotten 1967-1968 British television series “ The Prisoner .”

Created by and starring Patrick McGoohan, the 17-episode show depicted a British spy whose resignation prompts his abduction to a strange, resort-like penal colony. But all you need to know is that the bubble, known as Rover, always won. Always. The bubble enforced the rules on the prisoners, smothering them into docility. The prisoners never escaped.

Today’s bubbles have a similar policing effect, reinforcing existing opinions and shuttering minds against new information and changes of direction. Much of the U.S. education elite is in a bubble of conformity to its own hierarchy of authority. Unless that hierarchy is open to findings such as those Haidt describes, the dramatic course correction necessary in all schools — public and private, religious and secular, charter and neighborhood — will not happen.

Officials within the education establishment must be willing not only to do something of critical importance to students but also to face down the unavoidable pushback. The pushback will come from students, of course, but also from parents who like the convenience and false sense of security afforded by equipping their children with phones.

If the ability to stay in touch with their kids during the day is essential, Haidt says, then parents — especially of younger children — should equip them with flip phones, a.k.a. dumb phones, the kind strictly for placing and receiving calls, not for scrolling through social media.

There would almost certainly also be quiet lobbying by phone manufacturers against school bans, for surely the bans would raise questions about the hidden harms that smartphones have inflicted on a generation of children.

If these phones are a danger to students’ health and well-being, as Haidt argues, and if the manufacturers and social media companies that grew because of them knew of the risk and did not act to stop or at least warn of it … well, the history of cigarette and opioid litigation might be instructive.

I hope the bubble denizens mentioned above can escape long enough to read this one essay. Then a start will have been made. Closing schools during the pandemic was an enormous and costly mistake that the nation must not repeat, absent specific evidence that a virus is a terrible danger to children. But the evidence of how smartphones damage young minds and undermine education is already here. Get phones out of schools now.

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Persuasive Essay: Should Cell Phones Be Allowed in Schools

Banning cell phones in school? Allowing students to use their cellphones in the classroom is 

a controversial topic. But students have already found ways of using cell phones in school for academic purposes. After all, allowing cell phone usage can help students during the day by learning in a way they are comfortable, keeping in contact with their parents, and devices provide easy access to information. I do not agree with the cell phone ban!

First of all, allowing cell phone usage lets students learn in a way where they're comfortable.  

Cell phones are like a tool to students these days, it helps them in many ways and it makes them feel comfortable and learn better.  According to the text, “Smartphones are young-person intuitive.  More and more students know how to use them, and they are becoming the most used "tool" by teens "(The SHARE team, resilient educator). In addition, allowing students to use their cell phones keeps them in contact with their parents. And know there are phones in schools but parents feel safe to know that their children can reach them at any moment. Based on the text, "Contacting parents mediated by school sometimes takes time so one of the best options is if the student can contact them directly.  This is especially useful during medical emergencies.  There are also times where the parents need to get ahold of their child for some important reason or just to check up on them on why they are running late "(Todd VanDuzer, student-tutor). 

In fact, letting students use their phones in schools also lets them access information easier.  

Some students may find it hard to keep on top of all their assignmens and by giving them access to information on the internet they can learn more about the topic and help them be on top of their work.  As said in the text, "If smartphones are allowed in school, students will have easy access to more information and therefore will be more participative during the class discussion" (Todd VanDuzer, student-tutor).  Being able to search up facts in just a few clicks is one of the biggest advantages of using technology.

On the other hand, Cell phones in the classroom promote cheating.  There are many websites, online forums, and tutors available online.  Most of the websites require subscriptions.  These resources, allow students to ask a question about their homework and they will be provided the answer.  If a student is allowed to bring their cell phone, he will have access to submit his question and receive the answer.  As said in the text "As said before, kids are getting distracted and not paying attention, so when it comes to taking a test they have no idea what the answers are so many students will cheat and not even learn anything" (Amie Vitello, Middle Borough TV).

In conclusion, cell phones should not be banned from schools because they are used for academic purposes. They provide quick access to knowledge, and they are learning in a method that is comfortable for them, and they can maintain in touch with their parents. In the end mobile devices have their benefits. So, should we ban them?

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Essay on Should Cell Phones Be Banned From Vehicles

Students are often asked to write an essay on Should Cell Phones Be Banned From Vehicles in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Should Cell Phones Be Banned From Vehicles

Introduction.

Cell phones are a big part of our lives. But using them while driving can be dangerous. This essay discusses if we should ban cell phones from vehicles.

The Problem

Many accidents happen because drivers use their cell phones. They get distracted and can’t focus on the road. This is a big problem and needs a solution.

Benefits of a Ban

Banning cell phones in vehicles can make roads safer. Drivers will pay more attention to driving. This will reduce the number of accidents.

Drawbacks of a Ban

But a ban can also cause problems. People might need their phones for emergencies. Or they might need to use GPS to find their way.

So, should cell phones be banned from vehicles? It’s a tough question. We need to balance safety with the need for communication.

250 Words Essay on Should Cell Phones Be Banned From Vehicles

Cell phones have become an essential part of our lives. They help us stay connected with the world. But, should they be banned from vehicles? Let’s discuss this.

Cell Phones and Distraction

One major problem with using cell phones in vehicles is distraction. When drivers use their phones, they are not fully focused on the road. This can lead to dangerous situations. Many accidents happen because of this.

Cell Phones for Emergencies

On the other hand, having a cell phone in a vehicle can be useful in emergencies. If your car breaks down or if you are in an accident, you can call for help.

Laws and Rules

Many places have laws against using cell phones while driving. But, these laws don’t ban cell phones from vehicles completely. They only ban the use of phones while driving.

In conclusion, completely banning cell phones from vehicles might not be the best idea. They can be helpful in emergencies. But, it is important to use them responsibly. We should not use them while driving to avoid distractions and accidents.

500 Words Essay on Should Cell Phones Be Banned From Vehicles

Cell phones have become a big part of our lives. We use them for many things, like talking to friends, playing games, and getting directions. But should we use them while driving? This is a big question that many people are asking.

Why Some People Want a Ban

Many people want to ban cell phones in vehicles because they can be dangerous. When drivers use their phones, they are not paying full attention to the road. This can lead to accidents. A study found that drivers who use their phones are four times more likely to crash. This is a scary fact.

The Role of Technology

Technology can be both good and bad for drivers. On one hand, it can help them. For example, GPS apps on phones can give drivers directions. This can stop them from getting lost. On the other hand, technology can distract drivers. Texting or calling while driving can take a driver’s eyes off the road. This is not safe.

What the Law Says

In some places, the law already says that drivers cannot use their phones. These laws are there to keep people safe. But in other places, there are no such laws. This means that drivers can use their phones if they want to. Some people think that this is not right.

Education and Awareness

Another way to keep drivers safe is to teach them about the dangers of using phones while driving. Schools can teach students about this. There can also be ads on TV and the internet about it. This can help people understand why it is not safe to use a phone while driving.

In the end, whether or not cell phones should be banned from vehicles is a tough question. There are good points on both sides. But one thing is clear: safety should always be the most important thing. If using a phone while driving is not safe, then it should not be done. It is up to each of us to make the right choice and keep the roads safe for everyone.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Should Cell Phones Be Allowed In School
• Essay on Should Animals Be Used For Research
• Essay on Should Animals Be Kept In Zoos

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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Pamela Paul

It’s Not Kids With the Cellphone Problem, It’s Parents

By Pamela Paul

Opinion Columnist

The hardest rule I ever set for my kids was refusing them cellphones until high school.

I’d seen the research on the doleful effects of social media , screens and surveillance parenting on kids’ mental, physical and cognitive well-being. If it turns out that the data is wrong, I figured, they will have survived a mild deprivation in their relatively privileged lives and provided fodder for a future therapist’s couch.

“How did you manage?!” other parents asked, and I knew exactly what they meant. Much as parents don’t want to admit it, we need — or it feels like we need — our kids to have a phone.

They’ll be safer walking to school, we tell ourselves — fully aware that should they be hit by a car or snatched away, they won’t be texting Mom about the situation. Even in a school shooting, cellphones have as much potential for danger as they do for safety.

We tell ourselves the phone will give our kids a sense of independence, even though phone trackers let us know exactly where they are. It will teach our kids to be responsible, even though we pay the bill.

We may genuinely believe these little lies; we may just love the convenience. Phones let kids check the forecast themselves rather than yell for a weather report while getting dressed. Phones let kids distract themselves rather than distract us when we’re on our phones.

As much as we lament the besotted, agonized, needy relationship our kids have with their phones, that same phone lets parents off the hook. If we screw something up, we can always text: Remember your grandfather’s birthday! Don’t forget violin. So sorry, I can’t pick you up this afternoon. You forgot your Chromebook!

The news that some districts are cracking down on cellphones is thus a bewildering case of competing interests among kids, administrators, teachers, parents and other parents. It overturns many pro-tech school policies embraced before Covid and resorted to during lockdown. It’s also the smartest thing schools can do, and it’s about time it got done.

Years ago, schools largely rolled over on tech in the name of inculcating “21st-century skills.” Schools boasted Chromebooks for every child, wired education, all kinds of apps. According to the Department of Education, as of 2020, about 77 percent of schools prohibited nonacademic cellphone use. Note the caveat “nonacademic”; many schools had simply integrated phones into their curriculum.

When my kids were in middle school, for example, teachers repeatedly told kids to take photos of assignments; in science, recording images on cellphones was part of the lesson. In The Atlantic, Mark Oppenheimer described one school that “made no pretense of trying to control phone usage, and absurdly tried to make a virtue of being aggressively tech-forward by requiring phones for trivial tasks: At the beginning of the term, you had to scan a QR code to add or drop a course.”

Little surprise then, that a new study by Common Sense Media found that 97 percent of teen and pre-teen respondents said they use their phones during the school day, for a median of 43 minutes, primarily for social media, gaming and YouTube. According to the authors, students reported that policies about phone use in schools vary — sometimes from classroom to classroom — and aren’t always enforced.

Now the enforcers are coming in. As Natasha Singer reported recently in The Times, Florida has issued a statewide prohibition against student cellphone use in the classroom, and school districts elsewhere including those in South Portland , Maine, and Charlottesville , Va., have made similar moves. One district in Florida, Orange County, went so far as to ban phones during the school day entirely. The not-shocking result: less bullying, increased student engagement, even actual eye contact between students and teachers in the hallway.

We should know this by now. In 2018, a secondary school in Ireland decided to ban cellphones altogether . The result: a significant increase in student face-to-face social interactions. “It’s hard to measure, but we find the place has a happier atmosphere for everyone,” one administrator told The Irish Times.

It’s not the school’s job to police kids’ phone habits, something parents are acutely aware isn’t easy. And that gets to the thorny crux of the issue: Parents are often the problem. When one group of parents in my district confronted the administration about its lax policy toward cellphones, the principal said whenever he raised the issue, parents were the ones who complained. How would they reach their children?!

But if we expect our kids to comply with no-phones policies, we’ve got to get over the deprivation. Our own parents would just call the front office — in an emergency . Not because they wanted to make sure we remembered to walk the dog.

And really, if we’re trying to teach kids to be safe, responsible and independent, shouldn’t we give them the leeway to do so? Phones don’t teach kids these values; parents do.

For schools to enact what research overwhelmingly shows benefits students, we parents have to back them up. When parents say our kids are the ones with the cellphone problem, we’re just kidding ourselves.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Pamela Paul is an Opinion columnist at The Times, writing about culture, politics, ideas and the way we live now.

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Indiana lawmakers ban cellphones in class. Now it's up to schools to figure out how

From IPBS News

Kirsten Adair

Around the country, state legislatures and school districts are looking at ways to keep cellphones from being a distraction in schools. monkeybusinessimages/Getty Images hide caption

Around the country, state legislatures and school districts are looking at ways to keep cellphones from being a distraction in schools.

School officials in Indiana are looking forward to class without the buzz of cellphones next school year. A new law with heavy bipartisan support requires school districts to adopt policies banning students from having wireless devices during class time.

The law applies to cellphones, tablets, laptops or gaming devices. It allows exemptions for educational purposes with a teacher's permission, in emergencies or to manage health care. Students can also use technology if they have a disability or as part of an individualized education program.

Florida passed a similar law last year and Kentucky, Vermont, Tennessee and Kansas are considering it. Supporters say the laws reduce distractions in the classroom , cut down on bullying through social media and encourage more in-person interaction.

Many schools in the state — and elsewhere — already had these bans on their own. Now others will have to adopt them, though the law doesn't spell out how to enforce them.

David Bloomfield, a professor of education leadership, law and policy at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, said the law means more work for schools and staff.

"The cellphones have to be removed from their persons, and they have to be stored somewhere away from that individual," he said. "That's going to take time. It's going to take expense, and it's going to take enforcement."

Bloomfield said some schools use technology-blocking software, but that raises questions about how students can use their phones in emergencies.

He also said the law's lack of specific enforcement measures could lead to racial disparities in how the policies — or penalties — are applied.

"It's easy for states to require districts to have policies, but they're really offloading the job to school districts, and then obviously to schools to enforce those policies," he said.

Shots - Health News

So your tween wants a smartphone read this first.

Indiana Rep. Julie McGuire, a Republican and one of the sponsors of the bill in the legislature, said some teachers now don't have the power to confiscate phones even when they create a distraction. She said the new law will reduce problematic behavior around social media and teach students to replace screen time with more face-to-face communication.

"While we cannot control the amount of time students spend on social media outside school hours, we can provide reprieve during the seven hours per day that should be focused on learning," she said.

Democratic Rep. Matt Pierce opposed the bill, questioning the need for mandating what he said should be obvious.

"From the policy perspective, it makes sense," he said. "The other part of me is like, really? We need a bill so a school corporation can have a common-sense policy telling its kids not to use these devices? I was going to vote against this bill just because I don't think it's needed, but now I've got somebody telling me that you've got a school somewhere that's telling some teacher they can't just take the darn phone away. I don't get it."

The bill was signed by Indiana's Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in early March. and the law takes effect July 1.

Some districts, like Indianapolis Public Schools, will not be largely affected by the new law because they already have similar policies in place. Other districts vary.

At Westfield Washington School District, communications director Joshua Andrews said high school students there can only have their phones at lunch and between classes. However, middle school students cannot use their phones at all during the school day.

"When you change something that big, it kind of makes people recoil a little bit. But, there's been little to no problems with it since we've rolled it out," he said.

Other districts are still in the process of developing policies.

Terry Terhune, superintendent at Greenwood Community School Corp., said students at his schools generally aren't supposed to have their phones out during class unless they have a teacher's permission. However, the rules vary by grade level.

"One of my goals is to try to meet with some of our neighboring school districts and see kind of where everybody lands on that," he said. "Within our county, Johnson County, I would like to try to be consistent with other districts. But again, everybody's going to have their own opinion on those things."

Kirsten Adair covers education for Indiana Public Broadcasting.

Parental Rights

Parents Don't Want Schools to Confiscate Kids' Phones

A new survey highlights how fear-based parenting drives phone-based childhoods..

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.27.2024 11:30 AM

A majority of American parents want kids to have access to their phones at school, a new survey finds . In addition, most parents think cellphones have a positive effect on their kids' lives.

Debates over teens and smartphones often contain the (assumed or explicit) premise that parents want their kids to stop living what author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls a "phone-based childhood." Popular wisdom today says parents think phones are negatively impacting their childrens' lives and want kids to have less access to phones but feel powerless to change the situation—a premise baked into Haidt's new book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (read my review here ).

But a survey conducted earlier this month by the National Parents Union challenges this narrative.

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Phones—the Perfect Vehicle for Helicopter Parenting

In The Anxious Generation , Haidt looks at the rise of various problems among young people and pinpoints two interlocking culprits: the ascendancy of a "phone-based childhood" and the decline of a "play-based childhood." Many folks see this as a simple one-way flow: phones came along and simply wiped out time or motivation for other pursuits. Haidt suggests a somewhat different sequence of events. As parents began to fear everything in the offline world (and instill this fear into their children), individual families and American society more broadly started denying children independence, autonomy, and unstructured free time. "Screen time" started to fill a void that parents, politicians, police, and our culture as a whole had already created.

The new National Parents Union survey perfectly illustrates the way fear-based parenting is driving phone-based childhoods.

In the survey—conducted in February among 1,506 parents of public school students grades K-12—66 percent of parents said their kids have a cell phone and most of these kids (79 percent) take their phones to school. Asked why parents' wanted this, the most common answers were so that kids could "use their phone if there is an emergency" (79 percent agreed) and so parents could get in touch with their children "or find out where they are when needed" (71 percent). Forty percent said it was important for communicating with kids "about their mental health or other needs during the day."

In other words, a lot of parents want their kids to have phones at school because these parents are anxious, afraid, and/or overzealously policing their progeny's whereabouts and feelings.

Hat tip to Bonnie Kristian for first identifying this paradox. "It is increasingly fashionable to talk about the risk phones pose to American kids, especially teenage girls," writes Kristian on Substack:

The dysfunction of the phone-based childhood has become impossible to ignore, thanks in no small part to Haidt's own work. We're all saying it: Make the kids put down their phones at dinner! Ban phones in school! Kick teenagers off social media or confine them to flip phones or take the phones away altogether! But then there's the second level: When push comes to shove, whatever ideals they may spout about rejecting the phone-based childhood, average American parents want their middle and high schoolers to have phones, preferably smartphones with location tracking kept on their persons at all times.

Hey, Teachers, Leave Those Phones Alone

It seems parents are as attached to their kids having phones as their kids are. In light of this, it's unsurprising that many parents frown on policies that totally deny kids access to phones at school (even though the popular/political narrative around kids and phones suggests this is what parents want).

Fifty-six percent of the people surveyed by the National Parents Union said "students should sometimes be allowed to use their cell phones" in school, while just 32 percent said "students should be banned from using their cell phones, unless they have a medical condition or disability for which they need to use a cell phone."

Even among the group who said most students should be banned from using phones, only 30 percent wanted this ban to apply broadly (i.e., outside of class). Most said phones should be banned during academic instruction but allowed at other times, such as during lunch or recess or during periods between classes.

In keeping with this, relatively few of the parents surveyed supported school policies that keep kids' entirely away from their phones during the day.

Fifteen percent said schools should "require students to place their cell phones in a central location in their classroom, such as a cubby or holder, but don't lock them up" and 14 percent said they should "require students to place their cell phones in a locked cabinet or cell phone lockers in their classroom." Another 8 percent said schools should "lock up students' cell phones in secure pouches or containers that they can carry with them but that prevent them from using their phone."

The most popular answer—shared by 59 percent of the parents surveyed—was that schools should "allow students to keep their phones in their backpack or bag (not locked up) as long as they don't take them out and keep them on silent."

Reassuringly, very few people (5 percent) think the federal government should make decisions about school phone policies and only 10 percent say it should be a state-level government decision.

Most parents think phone policies should be made at the school district level (29 percent), the school level (28 percent), or at the classroom level (18 percent).

The Upsides of Screen Time

Some of the data in this survey fits popular narratives about kids and phones, like the ideas that they're starting young and spending a lot of time on them.

Among parents who allowed their children to have cellphones, the most popular ages to have given phones to them was between 10 and 13 years old. (The survey does not say what type of phones were given, so it's possible many kids received dumb phones to start.) Only 13 percent of parents waited until a kid was age 14 or older.

Among those whose kids had cell phones, only 18 percent estimated that their child spends less than 2 hours per day on it. Some 28 percent estimated that their kid spends between 2 and 3 hours per day on their phones, with 29 percent suggesting their kid uses it for 4 or 5 hours per day, 12 percent saying 6 or 7 hours per day, and 9 percent saying their kids are on phones for upwards of 8 hours per day.

And yet, most parents seem pretty unalarmed by this phone usage. Just 9 percent said phones had a mostly or entirely negative effect on their kids.

Nearly half—46 percent—said the phone had a mostly or entirely positive effect on their child, while 42 percent said the effect was "about equally positive and negative."

This stands out as at odds with what we commonly hear in the media and from legislators about how parents view kids' phone use. But it's in keeping with what many kids themselves say. In a 2022 survey of American 13- to 17-year-olds, conducted Pew Research Center, kids identified all sorts of plus sides to social media (which is, of course, one of the main things that kids use phones for). And a majority—59 percent—said social media is neither a negative nor a positive in their lives, while 32 percent said it's mostly positive and just 9 percent said it's mostly negative.

It's also in keeping with some earlier research on phone adoption among kids. For instance, a 2022 study from Stanford Medicine researchers followed 250 tweens and teens for five years during which most got a first cellphone, tracking study participants' well-being during this transition. The kids were 7 to 11 years old when the study started and 11 to 15 years old when it ended. The researchers "found that whether or not the children in the study had a mobile phone, and when they had their first mobile phone, did not seem to have meaningful links to their well-being and adjustment outcomes," according to lead author Xiaoran Sun.

More Sex & Tech

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law restricting teen use of social media platforms. Under the new law, 14- and 15-year-olds can old start social media accounts with their parents' permission. "This law puts all users' privacy at risk by mandating age verification," said Competitive Enterprise Institute's director of the Center for Technology & Innovation, Jessica Melugin. It also "ignores parents' rightful role in deciding what is and is not appropriate for their child, and may sacrifice too much of the free flow of speech to be constitutional. It's political click bait, but it's not good public policy."

• California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require large online platforms to verify the identities of "influential" users. Influential here is defined to include basically any user that's been at it for a while (that is, if content they've shared "has been seen by more than 25,000 users over the lifetime of the accounts that they control or administer").

• Mother Jones has an interesting interview with Lynn Paltrow , founder of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women (now called Pregnancy Justice). "For much of the past 50 years, the mainstream pro-choice groups were focused almost exclusively on the right to abortion," said Paltrow, who believes this was a mistake. "There was no campaign to explain abortion as necessary to the full equality and citizenship—the personhood—of women in this country. They were defending abortion as opposed to the people who sometimes need abortions but always need to be treated as full constitutional persons under the law, whatever the outcome of their pregnancies."

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