Cell phone bans in schools have become increasingly common recently, thanks to growing concern among education policy leaders about the devices and the suspected link to negative mental health outcomes in kids.
Bans have been enacted nationwide at the classroom, school, district, and state level. At the start of this school year, The National Education Association reported that 15 states have passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict cell phone usage. Several additional states are now considering similar laws to limit cell phone use in school.
However, implementing a cell phone ban is not always a simple process, as school leaders must address concerns from students and their parents, and then decide what a cell phone ban actually looks like in their education settings.
Alana Winnick, an author and Educational Technology Director at the Pocantico Hills Central School District in New York, and Mary Jane Warden, Chief Technology Officer at the Community Consolidated School District 15 in Illinois, share lessons they learned from their experience with implementing cell phone bans.
What Does Your Cell Phone Ban Actually Include
The ways in which a school implements a cell phone ban can vary significantly.
“Some districts are buying these [phone] pouches for students to keep their cell phones in,” Winnick says. She adds that some districts are getting special cell phone lockers in each classroom where teachers collect and store phones at the beginning of each class. Other schools are having students simply keep their phones in their traditional lockers or instruct students not to have their phones out during the school day.
Winnick and her colleagues decided a simpler approach would be most effective for their students.
“As with anything else, children find a way to get around these things,” Winnick says. “If you’re telling them to put their cell phone in a pouch, or if you’re collecting them at the door and putting them in a locker, then guess what, they probably have another cell phone in their desk. They’re probably giving you their old phone.”
She adds, “We just have a policy that says, ‘Keep your cell phone in your locker,’ and our students have been pretty respectful of that. If we catch them with their cell phone, then they know there are protocols in place for that.”
Even so, there have been some unforeseen reactions.
“Students didn’t understand that this applies to smartwatches,” Winnick says. “They were also all wearing smartwatches and were literally texting and calling their parents.”
Because of this, students needed to be reminded that the cell phone ban also extended to smartwatches.
Communication With Students
Warden’s district met with student advisory groups to discuss their ban. She says other school leaders should explore this, as it helps explain school policies to students and lets district leaders learn what students think about all this. In her district, for example, Warden says students understood that using cell phones can be fun and helpful but also can have a negative effect.
“They fully recognize that there’s this push and pull around what cell phones and social media do to their brains,” Warden says. “They also recognize that they are a distraction. We had several groups even say, ‘We understand that it is a distraction. We’ve been distracted in class. So we see the need, but we don’t want you to take them away.’”
As the conversations progressed, the students also agreed that the downsides of social media use were more extensive than just being a distraction. “They also reported that, you know, there have been misuses, that there are risks of cyberbullying, and there’s a lot of social media drama to navigate around in this day and age,” Warden says.
Engaging in these conversations with students in an honest and open manner can help explain the impetus behind a cell phone ban and get more buy-in from your school community.
Communicating With Parents
Some of the biggest critics any school instituting a cell phone will encounter are parents.
“Parents have this perceived need to be able to communicate with students throughout the day,” Warden says. “Because the technology is so available and so prevalent now, parents don’t want to just call the school to reach their students.”
Still, districts can remind parents that, in fact, calling the school works just fine, and that the school has procedures in place to notify parents in emergencies.
Some schools have also explored giving students access to phones at certain times during the day.
As with other aspects of technology management, the right approach is often dependent on the setting, and each school or district needs to find what works for them. Whatever policy a district chooses, inviting parents to be partners in fostering healthy digital habits in children is important, as discussions around appropriate cell phone usage should not begin and end with the school day.
Winnick’s district has been partnering with its PTO to encourage better cell phone use overall. They’ll begin each session with an expert sharing insights, then they’ll open up to discussion so parents can share what is working and not working with their family’s use of technology.
“They’re all sharing things like, ‘This is what we do at my house: we make a tech stack of all the technology when we’re eating dinner so we can all be engaged,’ or ‘We make sure that laptops are only used in common areas, such as the living room or the dining room.’”
Winnick adds that these conversations help educators and caregivers join forces in trying to make student phone and technology more appropriate. “We’re all creating this community where we’re sharing what’s working and what’s not working,” she says.