Ķvlog

Ed-Tech Policy

Teachers Want Cellphones Out of Classrooms

By Elizabeth Heubeck — August 15, 2024 3 min read
A sign is shown over a phone holder in a classroom at Delta High School, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Delta, Utah. At the rural Utah school, there is a strict policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when entering every class. Each classroom has a cellphone storage unit that looks like an over-the-door shoe bag with three dozen smartphone-sized slots.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

The National Education Association today released sounding the alarm on the negative effects that social media and cellphones are having on students’ mental health, interpersonal skills, and learning.

Those concerns aren’t new. Childhood experts, from school principals to pediatricians, have been voicing concerns about the negative impact of cellphones and social media on students for some time—especially since the pandemic. But they strike a particularly ominous tone when coming from nearly 3,000 K-12 Ķvlog who routinely observe and try to teach school-age children.

The NEA survey, conducted by data firm GBAO, drew responses from 2,889 Ķvlog working in K-12 schools this spring. The respondents are members of the NEA, which is the nation’s largest teachers’ union.

With the survey release, NEA President Becky Pringle emphasized the need for schools to craft their own policies to restrict students’ use of cellphones and other personal devices.

“Student mental health is a serious and growing concern for parents and Ķvlog, exacerbated by social media and personal-device use in schools,” said Pringle. “Every student—Black or white, Asian or Latino, native or newcomer—deserves a welcoming and safe learning environment. That environment can be compromised when social media follows students into school. To best support student well-being, it is crucial to have strong, schoolwide, locally crafted policies restricting access to personal devices during the school day.”

The survey shows that most respondents want to restrict cellphones at school

Pringle’s comments drive home how the use of personal devices at school exacerbates the dual, related problems of students’ mental health challenges and learning disruptions. So do the survey’s key findings.

Of the NEA members who responded to the survey:

  • Ninety percent support policies prohibiting the use of cellphones or other personal devices at school during instructional time.
  • More than 90 percent believe students’ mental health is a serious issue.
  • Seventy-five percent referred to social media use as a “serious problem” and are concerned about harmful effects, such as cyberbullying, disruption to social-skill development, and the loss of instructional time.
  • Eighty-three percent think policies prohibiting the use of personal devices should extend throughout the school day (with exceptions being made for students with medical or disability-related needs).
  • Only 31 percent think personal-device policies should be left up to individual Ķvlog.

Changing attitudes about cellphone use at school

The NEA survey reflects changing attitudes among teachers about cellphone use at school.

In an EdWeek Research Center survey conducted just over a year ago, only 24 percent of teachers thought cellphones should be banned from school campuses altogether. Now, it seems like more Ķvlog support the idea.

This July, independent school administrator Jody Passanisi wrote an Education Week opinion essay retracting her stance on cellphone use in classrooms that she and a fellow administrator took 11 years ago. At the time, they co-wrote an essay in Education Week extolling the potential uses of smartphones in the classroom. Now, Passanisi does not allow cellphones in class.

“Back in 2013, Shara and I didn’t know then what we know now about the incessant demands of a cellphone and how just having a phone near you can be a learning distraction,” Passanisi wrote.

As technology evolves, school administrators and Ķvlog may continue to reevaluate their stance on the use of personal devices in school classrooms and on campuses.

But for now, findings from surveys like the one released by the , as well as recent EdWeek reporting on the topic, indicate that an increasing number of Ķvlog want these devices out of students’ hands during class time, if not the entire school day.

Policymakers may be following suit. At least 11 states have passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones in schools or recommend districts enact their own restrictions, according to an EdWeek analysis.

Cellphones in Schools

Explore our coverage around students’ use of cellphones in schools:
> Guide to setting a policy: Here’s a decisionmaking tool for Ķvlog to map out the different potential outcomes when putting cellphone policies in play.
> Cellphone bans and restrictions: See which states are requiring cellphone restrictions or bans in schools in our tracker. Explore our tracker.
> Nuisance or teaching tool? How teachers are turning an ubiquitous and growing class nuisance—the smartphone—into a tool for learning.
> Cellphone policies, explained: Education Week breaks down the different ways schools are addressing cellphone use, and the factors to weigh before adopting or changing the rules. Check out our explainer.
> Tips from teens & teachers: Teenagers offer 6 tips on how schools should manage students’ cellphone use, and Ķvlog share their tips on policing cellphone use in classrooms.
> Then & now: How the “sexting” panic previewed today’s debate about kids’ cellphone use.

Complete coverage on cellphones in schools >

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
The Road to Opportunity: Making CTE Accessible for All
The most valuable CTE happens off campus. For too many students, transportation is the barrier that keeps opportunity out of reach.
Content provided by HopSkipDrive
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
New Hire, No Laptop, No Login: Preventing Day-One Disruption
What happens before day one matters. Discover how districts are improving the new hire experience.
Content provided by 
Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum Supporting the New K-12 Workforce: What Teachers Need to Stay at School
 Join this free virtual event to discover what teachers say they need to feel supported to stay in classrooms for the long haul.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Ed-Tech Policy Education Groups Say New E-Rate Bidding Portal Will Hurt Small Districts Hardest
Supporters of the measure say it will create a more transparent bidding process.
3 min read
Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission at Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr testifies during a House committee oversight hearing of the FCC in Washington, on Jan. 14, 2026. Some education organizations opposed a measure the FCC recently approved to create a new bidding portal for federal E-rate funds.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Schools Have Another Year to Make Websites Accessible. Why That Matters
People with disabilities say inaccessible online content is a barrier to participating in public life.
4 min read
A gif with web accessible icons around a computer screen with a magnifying glass.
Shivendu Jauhari/Getty
Ed-Tech Policy Nation's 2nd Largest District Moves to Limit Student Screen Use
LAUSD will limit classroom screen time, emphasizing quality learning over device use.
Photos of board members decorate the walls inside LAUSD headquarters Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Los Angeles.
Photos of board members decorate the walls inside LAUSD headquarters Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Board of Education recently voted to limit screen time in classrooms.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Letter to the Editor Don’t Ban Phones, Limit Them
Phones can be useful tools, says a high school student.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week