More and more US schools are banning cell phones: here are the critical reasons for limiting their use

The trend is not new, but with each new school year that begins, like the one that started this Tuesday in USAmore and more schools have begun to prohibit or limit the use of cell phones in classrooms and educational centers in the country.

In total, over the past few years, at least four states –Florida, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina– have passed laws to eliminate smartphones and cell phones from schools and at least four more –Virginia, Ohio, Connecticut and Alabama– already have some type of limitation in place or are in the process of adopting them.

And there are many cities or districts that are doing the same thing on an individual level. While the measures are different in each state, city or district, the reasons behind the “ban” are the same: more and more teachers, politicians, officials and experts agree that the use of devices is not only interfering with the education of young people but also contributing to mental health problems.

In June of this year, the educational district of Los Angeles (California)which is the largest in the country with almost 450,000 studentsbecame one of the first to completely ban the carrying of devices and the use of social networks during the school day.

Knowing what we already know, we had to do something. Smartphones, and the content they can access on them 24 hours a day, are distracting our children, impeding their education and eroding their mental health.

While specific details are still being developed — the ban is set to go into effect in January — the measure, at a minimum, requires that phones be turned off while students are in class.

Something very similar to what is provided for by the law passed in Florida, which, while allowing the carrying of phones, prohibits their use during classes “except when expressly authorized by a teacher and only for educational purposes.”

The law also requires schools to block access to social media on computers unless it is to teach students about the dangers of such platforms.

As in the case of Los Angeles or Florida, in other cities or states the rules vary and are diverse.

In some, for example, the use of the sections is permitted during lunch time, or in the corridors of educational centres. Others are implementing “safe zones” or specific spaces where they would be authorised.

Many, like Louisiana, require phones to be turned off and stored in lockers. And several are experimenting with secure cases like those sold by the company Yondr, which allow students to charge their phones but automatically lock them while on school grounds.

“Knowing what we already know, we had to do something. Smartphones and the content they can access on them 24 hours a day are distracting our children, impeding their education and eroding their mental health. It’s very sad to walk into a cafeteria and see five students at the same table, all glued to their phones,” said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles school district and one of the sponsors of the measures.

Part of the problem, according to a study published by Common Sense Media, is that over the past 10 years and thanks to advances and the spread of technology, cell phones have become almost an item of clothing for students.

Today, Nearly 100 percent of all 11- to 17-year-olds own one, and at least 97 percent use it for an hour or more during the school day.

That, of course, was not always the case. In fact, until 2009, when smartphones became widespread, 91 percent of schools in the country did not allow them among their students.

But according to Harvard professor Victor Pereira, that began to change when companies started developing apps and programs that allowed mobile phones to be used for educational purposes.

Suddenly, thanks to the lobbying of many of these companies, phones began to be seen as valuable learning devices, and their ban was reduced to almost 50 percent by the middle of the last decade.

The coronavirus pandemic, and the school closures it brought with it, exacerbated that dependency.

We found that people who did not have their phones had lower levels of anxiety, high levels of course understanding, and high levels of mindfulness.

Since then, Dozens of studies show the negative effect they also have on education.

One of them, conducted by the New York Institute of Technology among university students in 2022, showed considerable improvements among young people who had their cell phones taken away during classes.

“We found that people who didn’t have their phones had lower levels of anxiety, higher levels of course comprehension and higher levels of mindfulness,” said Melissa Huey, assistant professor of psychology and one of the study’s authors.

According to Huey, the results would likely be more pronounced if students were measured in kindergarten through high school. That’s something a large majority of teachers agree with. According to a Pew Center survey conducted last year, at least 73 percent of them believe excessive phone use is hindering their work as educators and causing other problems.

According to them, the issue is not simply that some children and adolescents compulsively use applications such as Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram during classes, distracting themselves and their classmates.

At the same time, they are used for bullying, intimidation, sexual exploitation or the dissemination of videos of physical attacks against colleagues that have gone viral.< /p>

Although the problem seems very clear and the pendulum seems to be swinging towards banning or limiting smartphones, in practice obstacles have also been emerging.

On the one hand, Many parents and organizations representing them have begun to express concern.

For them, limiting cell phones is limiting the access they have to their children, especially in emergencies and in an environment like the current one where school shootings are frequent.

I understand why they want to ban them and it’s not good to be scrolling through TikTok for two hours straight. It’s easy to paint a bad narrative. But also, more people than you can imagine are using it to get smarter, and smarter than any previous generation.

To address some of these concerns, some states and districts are coming up with creative alternatives. In an amendment included in the Phone-Free Schools Act moving forward in California, lawmakers added some exceptions, such as schools not being able to prohibit students from using phones during emergencies.

Others, for example, are betting on devices like Yondr, which allows students to keep their devices at all times instead of having to hand them in at the entrance or leave them locked away.

And, says Francine Avila, principal of a school in Los Angeles, it must be understood that phones are already part of young people’s bodies and removing them in itself causes anxiety.

“And just because we take away or limit their phones doesn’t mean that other problems that exist, like bullying and social media, are going to disappear from their lives. In addition to measuring the impact on education, schools need to consider these other elements,” adds Anthony Vaccaro, a psychology professor at the University of South Carolina.

In addition, the discussion also considers the impact that banning a device that, if used properly, could be beneficial for students would have.

“I understand why they want to ban them and it’s not good to be scrolling through TikTok for two hours straight. It’s easy to paint a bad narrative. But also, more people than you can imagine are using it to be smarter, and smarter than any previous generation,” he told the Daily Mail. Washington Post Nate Casibang, a senior at Sickles High School in Hillsborough County, Florida.

That’s why others, like English professor Calvin Dillon, favor an approach that corrects problems but also takes advantage of the benefits.

“Total bans don’t work. It’s unrealistic to think you can just get rid of phones overnight. You also need to create a classroom experience for students that is more engaging than staring at a phone all day,” Dillon says.

In any case, it is a debate that grows with each passing day and that will condition the experience of millions of U.S. students in the years to come.

SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI

Correspondent for EL TIEMPO

Washington