I’ve been teaching middle school English since 2013. This year, New York state, where I live and work, has enacted a school cell phone ban, implementing “bell-to-bell” smartphone restrictions in all K-12 public schools. Many schools, including the ones where I’ve taught, already have policies against using phones at school. But legislation that mandates the ban statewide doubles down on those school rules and requires districts to come up with solutions that ensure student phones are inaccessible during the school day.
I’m skeptical—I worry that we are missing an important opportunity to teach our kids about these powerful machines. As both a teacher and a parent, I think the goal should be to improve student education around social media and internet use. From what I’ve seen, that’s not often happening at home. As much as many people wish they would, smartphones aren’t going away. Kids in middle school classrooms today have never experienced a world without them, and they are going to be utilized in the future in ways we probably can’t even imagine right now. If we want to set our kids up for success, it’s crucial that they learn how to navigate the online world.
What cell phone bans miss
One of my main issues with a cell phone ban is that it is extremely costly, and those funds would be better spent on education, rather than prohibition. Many proponents of the ban cite distraction as a major drawback of smartphones in schools. But it’s the technology, not the smartphone itself, that’s distracting. Most schools are actually increasing student technology use. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 88% of public schools nationwide had 1-to-1 programs in which students were issued devices such as laptops or tablets during the 2024-25 school year.
Since laptops and tablets function similarly to smartphones, they can be just as distracting. I can’t count the number of times I’ve caught students playing computer games on their Chromebooks when they were meant to be completing an assignment. Kids in my classes will chat back and forth from across the classroom, and even exchange messages with people off-campus, all from their school-issued device. How is this so different from the distractions created by smartphones?
“Since laptops and tablets function similarly to smartphones, they can be just as distracting.”
New York is spending millions of dollars to make sure that schools have options for storing student cell phones during the school day, like in magnetic pouches specially designed to prevent access. Additional money is being spent to cover other costs associated with the ban, like professional development for teachers and communication with parents. The same is true in other states implementing the bans. Wouldn’t that money be better spent trying to optimize our children’s use of this technology, rather than prohibiting it?
Negative warnings aren’t working
In the schools where I’ve worked, a lot of discussion with students has focused on the negative aspects of tech use. But these warnings don’t seem to be catching. My students have had entire relationships play out on social media. They are using AI to circumvent assignment expectations far more than to improve their research on a subject. They develop opinions based on posts from TikTok or Instagram, even though they’ve been told that the reliability of information shared this way is questionable. Our digital world is moving quickly and advancing every day. I’d rather accept the growing reliance on these technologies than bury my head in the sand.
I doubt I’m alone in saying that I personally use my own iPhone much more than I probably should—as a newspaper, an e-reader, for communication both personal and professional, and, of course, for social media. It feels disingenuous, then, to tell my students not to. And even if the smartphone bans are implemented successfully, we all know that the moment the dismissal bell rings, students will be running to their phones to play catch-up.
The importance of teaching media literacy
I have been teaching a media literacy unit in my English classroom for years, one that I’ve had to modify often to meet the rapid evolution of technology. This unit has become mostly focused on determining the reliability of information found online. But a big chunk of the “information” young people struggle with is inaccessible in schools. Students are usually blocked from social media and AI, which seems sensible, right? How many parents out there have been taught to be wary of what lies inside these platforms, especially for kids as young as 11 and 12?
Kids will find their way to online content
I’m not denying that there is plenty of inappropriate material to be found on such sites, but therein lies the problem. Students are going on Instagram and TikTok, whether they have permission or not. But are they savvy enough to understand the sponsored content, targeted ads, and elusive algorithms behind what they see and do not see? Will they do the legwork required to discern the truth behind the insidious misinformation they might find there? Will they even know to question it?
I am not suggesting that my students are stupid—on the contrary, I’m often amazed by their ingenuity and intelligence. But when I’m teaching the techniques of persuasion in class, they’re still mostly naive to how they are being influenced every day, from every angle.
“They’re still mostly naive to how they are being influenced every day, from every angle.”
More and more, I wish I could show my students real examples in real time. Have an Instagram account? Count how many sponsored posts show up in your feed in thirty seconds of scrolling. Find a political post and do some lateral reading to determine its accuracy. Analyze an ad for the subtext beyond the content. And these examples represent only a tiny fraction of what today’s young people have to reckon with online.
Teachers need more time and training
It would require more training and planning time for the teachers delivering instruction, not to mention an imaginative approach to granting students access to online platforms rife with inappropriate content. But I am fairly confident that the money currently being used to keep cell phones in lockable storage pouches throughout the school day would be better used on teacher preparation.
“I am fairly confident that the money currently being used to keep cell phones in lockable storage pouches throughout the school day would be better used on teacher preparation.”
Final thoughts on banning cell phones in schools
It’s a complicated task, asking educators to teach people on the cusp of adolescence how to navigate the digital world at their fingertips. But they’re doing it without us. To me, it seems much more promising to take kids by the hand and offer guidance and perspective, even as we adults struggle to understand the long-term implications of all this advancing technology. In any case, it’s not going away. Not even by making them hide the evidence away in their backpacks.
Megan Pareja, Contributing Writer
Megan Pareja moved back to her hometown in Upstate New York to teach middle school English and raise a family. She has a BA in English from Trinity Washington University and a master’s degree in secondary education from UMass Amherst. She lives with her husband and their three children in her childhood home. Before teaching, Megan worked as a newspaper reporter on Martha’s Vineyard and in Oak Park, IL.
