Ninety percent of teachers say schools should ban cellphones in class, and 83 percent support full-day bans on phones and other personal devices, according to a National Education Association survey.
Overwhelmingly, NEA members say students' mental health is a serious problem that's become worse in the past few years. They blame cellphones and social media for students' poor social skills and a rise in cyber bullying.
Students have trouble concentrating in class, seem to lack motivation, and are acting out more frequently, say the vast majority of those surveyed.
Individual teachers should not set their own cellphone policy, said teachers by a two to one margin. Instead, schools should set an enforce a building-wide policy.
California is joining the list of states restricting students' cellphone use, reports Diana Lambert on EdSource. The Phone-Free School Act requires school districts, charter schools and county offices of education to develop a policy limiting the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.
Nine states have enacted policies restricting cellphone use on campus, and many districts have passed bans, reports Campus Safety.
"Bullying is down and socialization is up" at Fresno's Bullard High School, which banned cellphones two years ago, reports Carolyn Jones and Khari Johnson on Cal Matters. But getting phone addicts to follow the rules is a challenge.
"Instead of putting their devices in magnetically locked pouches, like they’re supposed to, some kids will stick something else in there instead, like a disused old phone, a calculator, a glue bottle or just the phone case," they write. "Others attack the pouch, pulling at stitches, cutting the bottom, or defacing it so it looks closed when it’s really open."
Educators say it's worth fighting for students' attention. "During school hours in a single day, the average student receives 60 notifications and spends 43 minutes — roughly the length of a classroom period — on their phone, according to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media," Jones and Johnson report.
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