There is overwhelming support for banning cellphones during class time in middle and high schools. Two-thirds of Americans believe phone-free schools will help students improve their social skills, grades, and behavior.
We may also see if that happens since more students across the country face the new reality this school year of no cellphones allowed in the classroom.
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According to the Parents Television and Media Council, since last fall, more than thirty states have moved to ban or restrict cellphones in their public schools.
“Cell phones are expected to be off and away,” Virginia Beach Public School Board member Kathleen Brown told CBN News. “So, in the backpack if they’re in high school. Just off and away, not in use, not vibrating or turning on or sending messages that are going to be distracting them in the classroom and the hallways.”
States joining Virginia in these phone bans include Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, and Texas.
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In Wisconsin, where nearly every school district bans phones in the classroom, GOP state senator Joel Kitchens told CBN News that an ongoing problem is with enforcing the rules, often due to parental complaints.
Kitchens has introduced legislation to send a clear message that school district superintendents have state law behind phone restriction polices.
“We’re not doing this because we think the schools don’t – we’re not forcing the schools to do this,” Kitchens explained. “We want to back them up and let them say, when the parents complain to them, say, ‘hey, sorry, we’re just following state law.’ So that’s really the goal that we all need to be on the same page on this.”
Experts and advocates agree that phones have led to a mental health crisis for young Americans, ranging from lack of attention and poor focus.
“We also have what some researchers have termed an attention apocalypse going on, which is kids have become so acclimated to these digital devices,” said Melissa Henson of the Parents Television and Media Council.
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Some experts warn that phones are also inviting trauma and danger into the lives of kids.
Laura Derrendinger, who once worked as a public health nurse, told CBN News, “I saw the phone indeed as a vector of disease carrying toxic online content and creating disease in our children.”
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2025 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
