School is no place for cellphones, and some states are cracking down

School is no place for cellphones. That’s the message coming from campuses far and wide as kids head back to school this fall with some of the strictest bans on smartphones in the classroom since the ever-present “tech appendage” went mainstream more than a decade ago.   

The crackdowns come at a time educators, lawmakers and even some students say cellphones have become a constant distraction that takes a toll on academic performance and mental health. 

“Cellphones are a drug, and kids are wired to get addicted,” Idaho's Boise County Sheriff Deputy Dave Gomez tells me over the phone. Gomez has been a school resource officer for the past 11 years and says he has seen the problems with students and smartphones get worse every year.  

“All this (new smartphone technology) comes at the cost of childhood. I see sixth graders who don't have a cellphone. They bring their guitar, they bring their ukulele, they draw, they do sports. And then I watch them get a cellphone in seventh grade, and they give up everything for that cellphone; no more guitar, no more drawing, no more friends. That cellphone becomes their No. 1 priority.” 

When are cellphones ‘too much too soon?’ 

That’s precisely what happened when Wilmington, North Carolina, mom Leigh Hicks allowed her daughter to use an iPhone just before the sixth grade.  

“My dad got her an Apple watch, and it came with a free phone,” Hicks says. “I was against her having a phone that young, and I should have stood my ground, but I caved.”  

Hicks says she used Apple’s parental controls and set strict ground rules around her daughter’s iPhone. Still, she says, within a year, her daughter was “completely and totally consumed by that smartphone and social media, and it absolutely changed who she was. She got maybe like 23 write-ups in school. She would sneak into my room at night and use my face or my finger to unlock the phone in the middle of the night. It was a horrible experience.”  

Hicks says getting rid of the phone was the only thing that helped. Now, her almost 16-year-old daughter is starting 10th grade with a Lively Jitterbug Flip2 phone − a device marketed mainly to senior citizens for simple calls and texts. “It’s the only flip phone I could find that doesn’t have any internet access capability,” Hicks says with a sigh.  

In Virginia Beach, Virginia, first grade teacher Allison Graves also regretted giving her daughter an older-model iPhone just before the seventh grade. “There are some things that were happening (after getting the phone) that weren't the safest or the best choices. She wasn’t following our rules of what was appropriate and OK to do on the phone. I’ll leave it at that.”  

Graves says she locked down her daughters’ phones, too, setting Apple screen time limits and turning on content, privacy and app download restrictions. It didn’t work.  

“One time, I was looking at her phone, and she had TikTok on it. Some kids at her school knew a workaround for it.”  

Graves also removed the iPhone and replaced it with a Bark phone built specifically for kids. She says she “loves it” because the phone can grow with her daughter, with more features added thoughtfully as she matures.  

“From what I know as an educator about children's brains, giving them a smartphone is like putting a child in a candy store with every imaginable sweet available but telling them they can only go to the one corner with vegetables and only eat vegetables. I don’t know anybody who can do that.”  

Both parents say they are relieved by more widespread and serious school cellphone bans. They hope it might take some of the pressure off them and some of the peer pressure off their daughters. 

“It would help if no one has (smartphones) in class,” Graves adds. “If I need to get ahold of my daughter during the day, I call the office. Or she can use the office phone to call me. Or she can use the basic flip phone after class.” Hicks agrees.  

Phones for kids:Screen time can be safer with these devices

What schools are banning cellphones? 

Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the country, voted over the summer to ban smartphones. The measure won’t take full effect until January, but already, LAU schools are warning students to keep them turned off and tucked away.  

Schools from Seattle to St. Louis are jumping on the no-cellphone bandwagon, and several states are going all-in to keep phones out too. Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma and Florida have some degree of prohibition on phones in schools.  

Several other states are weighing similar legislation, including New York − home to the largest school district in America − and California. As of right now, 11 states either restrict, or ask schools to restrict, cellphones from “bell to bell.” 

Or better yet, say many people who work in schools, don’t let kids bring them to school at all.  

“Don't even let the cellphones go to school because they're too big of a temptation," Gomez says. “If you allow kids to keep them in pockets or lockers, they’ll go to the bathroom, you know, 20 times an hour. It's just too much.” 

But many say parents might want to discourage kids from taking them to school at all.  

Why are schools banning cellphones? 

Nearly three-quarters of high school teachers and one-third of middle school teachers in America say smartphone distractions are a significant problem in their classrooms, according to a  Pew Research Center survey released in June.  

Another study released last fall by Common Sense Media shows that 97% of kids use their phones at school. The average student gets about 60 notifications during school hours in a single day and spends 43 minutes − about the same length as a full class period − on their phone.  

Just having a phone nearby is enough to break a student’s concentration, states a report by UNESCO, the United Nations' education, science and culture agency. Once distracted by a ding, buzz or quick peek at Snapchat, it can take up to 20 minutes for teens to refocus on learning.  

But do the bans actually work? In my next column, we look at why so parents are pushing back on restrictions and will do just about anything to remain tethered to their kids by tech 24/7.  

We also look at some smartphone alternatives that seem to hit the sweet spot for both kids and parents when it comes to staying connected − with guardrails.  

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech columnist and on-air correspondent. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. Contact her at[email protected].