Many states and the District of Columbia are adopting restrictions on student cellphone use during instructional time to reduce distractions and improve classroom focus. The shift is bipartisan, motivated by concerns about attention and student mental health, though some researchers call the evidence mixed. Policies vary: some states ban phones all day, some ban only during class periods, and others leave details to local districts. Students adapt with pouches or lockers, and some teachers report more one-on-one instruction for students who need it. Florida led the recent wave with a 2023 law, accelerating broader adoption.
Jamel Bishop is seeing a big change in his classrooms as he begins his senior year at Doss High School in Louisville, Kentucky, where cellphones are now banned during instructional time. In previous years, students often weren't paying attention and wasted class time by repeating questions, the teenager said. Now, teachers can provide "more one-on-one time for the students who actually need it." Kentucky is one of 17 states and the District of Columbia starting this school year with new restrictions, bringing the total to 35 states with laws or rules limiting phones and other electronic devices in school. This change has come remarkably quickly: Florida became the first state to pass such a law in 2023.
Both Democrats and Republicans have taken up the cause, reflecting a growing consensus that phones are bad for kids' mental health and take their focus away from learning, even as some researchers say the issue is less clear-cut. "Anytime you have a bill that's passed in California and Florida, you know you're probably onto something that's pretty popular," Georgia state Rep. Scott Hilton, a Republican, told a forum on cellphone use last week in Atlanta.
Phones are banned throughout the school day in 18 of the states and the District of Columbia, although Georgia and Florida impose such "bell-to-bell" bans only from kindergarten through eighth grade. Another seven states ban them during class time, but not between classes or during lunch. Still others, particularly those with traditions of local school control, mandate only a cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access.
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