The conflict regarding smartphone use in U.S. schools is escalating. For many educators and parents, the question isn’t just about distractions, but about control. In classrooms flooded with screens and instant messaging, more schools are choosing blanket bans to shut down a digital world that slips beyond a teacher’s reach and authority.
Why are smartphone bans gaining support?
According to Pew Research, 74% of U.S. adults now favor banning middle and high school students from using phones during class—an increase from 68% last fall. Support for full-day bans is rising as well, climbing from 36% to 44%. Still, the issue remains divisive: 46% of Americans oppose all-day bans, and 10% are unsure where they stand.
Phones may sit quietly in backpacks or pockets, but their presence is anything but silent. For many students, just knowing a message might come through is enough to fracture focus. Unlike the workplace, where multitasking is often part of the flow, classrooms require something more rare: full, collective engagement. For every student to learn equally, the room must be present together, moment by moment.
The challenge of maintaining focus in the classroom
For many educators—whether in college, middle school, or earlier grades—lessons are structured around a clear learning sequence: an introduction that provides context, focused engagement on key concepts and a summary that consolidates understanding.
If students miss any of these critical stages, their ability to fully grasp the material can be compromised. The learning process relies on each step building upon the last, so distractions that disrupt this flow can prevent students from connecting ideas and internalizing the core content.
Support for banning cellphone use during class has grown across all age groups in the past year. Among adults under 30, backing increased from 45% to 57%, reports Pew. Younger adults are a bit more hesitant about banning phones in class. For them, it often feels like a strict, watchful environment that limits freedom.
To help enforce phone bans, some schools are turning to low-tech tools like the Yondr pouch. A fabric pouch with a magnetic lock, it is similar to the security tags found in stores. Students drop their phones inside the pouches when the day begins and can carry them around—but can’t use them during lessons. At the end of the day, the pouch can be unlocked by scanning it at magnetic stations near school exits. Between 2021 and 2023, Yondr saw its sales from government contracts, primarily from school districts, increase more than tenfold, with $2.5 million invested during this period.
Classrooms work best when teachers have their students’ trust, not their suspicion. When phone bans are too rigid, students can feel boxed in and less willing to engage and learn openly. Just as in education, the workplace requires trust and flexibility. When employees face rigid guidelines and constant, mandatory communications, it limits their ability to find satisfaction and meaning in their work, leading to disengagement and a desire to just get things done.
Finding effective solutions to phone distractions
A University of Birmingham study published in February suggests that simply banning smartphones in schools doesn’t necessarily improve students’ well-being. While spending more time on phones and social media is linked to lower academic performance, poor sleep and behavioral issues, schools with phone bans didn’t see better results than those without. Interestingly, these bans also did not lead to a significant reduction in the total time kids spent on their devices throughout the day.
Professor Victoria Goodyear, the lead author of the study, told the BBC that simply banning phones in schools isn’t an effective solution to the problems caused by excessive phone use, explaining that focus should be placed on reducing the amount of time students spend on their phones.
Earlier this year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans to restrict phones in classrooms starting with the 2025–2026 school year, a move that will affect about 1.1 million students. Meanwhile, Los Angeles approved a similar ban in June 2024, which took effect in February 2025 and impacts over 429,000 students. Starting August 4, 2025, Texas classrooms will also be officially phone-free. The Texas Legislature’s House Bill 1481 is now law, banning cellphones, smartwatches and similar devices during the school day for all K–12 students. Across the U.S., more than a dozen states have enacted phone restrictions for schools, and in the U.K., new guidelines encouraging phone bans were introduced in February 2024.
Four months after the Los Angeles Unified School District banned cellphones, some teachers have noticed a clear shift: fewer phones in use and more student engagement. Venice High School math teacher Jessica Quindel told The LAist that on the first day of the ban, “It was almost like you had given them a sugar high, they were bouncing off the walls.” However, not all educators find the ban effective long-term.
Smartphones aren’t going away anytime soon. Instead of blanket banning them, schools may need to rethink how these devices can be integrated constructively, or risk missing out on opportunities to engage a generation wired completely differently.
Photo by Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock
