Teens spend 90 minutes -- a quarter of the school day -- on their phones, according to newly published research, reports Marianna McMurdock on The 74. The Stony Brook University study used a third-party app to monitor usage over four months in 2023.
Girls are the biggest phone addicts, averaging two hours on their phones.
That means students are on their phones -- messaging, streaming videos and checking Instagram -- in class, as well as during passing periods and lunch.
Students miss out on classroom learning and on "real-life social interaction with peers," researcher Lauren Hale told The 74.
To improve academic learning and social skills and school safety, schools need to ban smartphones.
John Ketcham and Jesse Arm make the case in City Journal: "After more than a decade of distracted learning, increased bullying, declining academic performance, and mental-health challenges wrought by social media, the effects of smartphones on American children have become impossible to ignore."
The Manhattan Institute has drafted model legislation for all-day smartphone bans, and Ketcham and Arm have written a model framework. They call for schoolwide bans during school hours and activities with "escalating consequences for violations."
If parents are worried about emergencies or medical needs, schools can allow basic "dumb" phones or grant health exceptions, they write.
In Orange County, Florida, "the district’s ban on smartphone use throughout the school day— including during lunch, recess, and class transitions — proved transformational," they write. After an initial wave of confiscations, students learned to follow the rules. "Bullying and disruptions declined, and students reconnected with their peers in the real world."
Banning phones in school is popular in red and blue states, reports Andrew DeMillo for AP. Florida was the first to enact a phone, at least eight states have followed and more are considering it.
Teachers support restricting phones, especially in class, but parents have mixed feelings, writes Lauraine Langreo in Education Week.
Ninety-five percent of teenagers have a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center. On average, 11- to 17-year-olds receive 237 notifications on their cellphones per day, according to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media. "Those distractions hurt students’ ability to learn," writes Langreo.
Ninety percent of teachers want to ban phone use in class, and 65 percent of parents agree. But only 35 percent of parents support all-day restrictions.
Sixty-five percent of parents of K-12 students polled by the Pew Research Center in the fall said they support banning middle and high school students from accessing their cellphones during class time, and 35 percent favor banning phones for the entire school day. Many parents say they want to be able to reach their child in an emergency.
Here's a summary of Jon Haidt's arguments about the dangers of a phone-based childhood from the Academy of Ideas:
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