As a middle school teacher, Nancy Streit understands how difficult it can be to compete with a smartphone for a child’s attention. But as a mother, she knows the devices are necessary when there’s an emergency.

“It’s mostly parents calling,” she says, adding that while she doesn’t allow phone use in her classroom, students usually break the rules. The Los Angeles school district where Ms. Streit teaches, the second largest in the nation, is the latest to ban smartphone use in schools this week.

76% of US schools prohibit cell phone use in the classroom

It’s part of a growing and familiar trend as more states and schools across the US consider how to manage children’s growing reliance on their devices.

THE New York and the California the two most populous states in the US, are moving forward with new statewide policies on the issue.

Earlier this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a ban on smartphones in classrooms and said he would work with lawmakers to enact a new policy. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has supported a similar law.

This spring, her governor Indiana signed into law banning cell phones in the classroom, which will take effect this fall.

The efforts mark the latest chapter in a long debate about limiting smartphone use in schools and come amid a wave of concern about the mental health of young people in the wake of the pandemic.

Most US schools already have some sort of cell phone policy. About the 76% of schools banned for use in the 2021-2022 school year, according to the US Department of Education.

“When they feel uncomfortable they pick up the phone”

The latest regulations, however, seek to go further.

Raphaela Hodges, a sixth-grade teacher at the Los Angeles school, says she has seen a disturbing and dramatic change in the way that children they socialize .

“When they feel uncomfortable they pick up the phone,” he told the BBC.

THE Florida implemented a state law last year that required school districts to ban phones from classrooms and block access to social media over school wi-fi.

The law also requires schools to “provide instruction on the social, emotional, and physical aspects of social media.”

Individual areas in states such as Maine and Virginia enact stricter rules on phone use, as do Canadian provinces including Ontario and Alberta.

Why were mobile phones considered necessary in schools

According to the BBC, the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which 13 people were killed, led some parents and schools to reevaluate phones as a key emergency communication tool. States have loosened the rules — including California, which lifted its phone ban in 2002.

Social media use and students’ mental health

The current wave of policies comes as experts express concern about students’ mental health and social media use.
On Monday, one of America’s top health officials called for warning labels similar to those on cigarette packs on social media platforms.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy argued that social media increased the risk children to show symptoms of anxiety and depression, although research on the topic has been mixed.

“You have a situation where children are not only trying to learn, but they’re simultaneously on their phones, texting their friends, replying to messages on social media, scrolling,” Dr Murthy told the BBC.
“It makes it very difficult not only to learn, but it makes it difficult at school to form relationships and friendships.”

Teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face twice the risk of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, according to a study published in 2019 and often cited by federal health charts.