New PTC Whitepaper Reveals What States are Doing to Confront Digital Distractions in the Classroom

LOS ANGELES (July 25, 2024) – As elected leaders and school districts tackle education reform by evaluating cellphone use by students during school, a new whitepaper by the Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) found that 28 U.S. states have made efforts to do so.

The PTC’s new report, Smartphones in the Classroom: What States are Doing to Confront These Digital Distractions, gives a comprehensive look at current state efforts that have been made to ban or limit cellphone use in schools.

“Children’s access to cellphones during the school day has been problematic for some time. Not only are phones distracting, children are also exposed to addictive technology and social media, predators, sexually explicit and graphically violent content, and powerful algorithms that feed harmful content to children. Personal tech can also be weaponized in schools – creating and magnifying bullying situations against classmates and teachers,” said Melissa Henson, vice president, Parents Television and Media Council.

“Parents aren’t the only ones concerned with their children’s increased reliance on cellphones. Teachers see the impact these personal screens are having on children and teens in the classrooms, and it’s not good.”

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in fall 2023, 72% of U.S. high school teachers consider cellphone distraction a major problem in their classrooms. Middle school teachers (33%) and elementary school teachers (6%) also share concerns about student distraction due to cellphones.

Government and educational leaders are starting to push back on cellphone use by children during the school day. Florida has banned smartphones from schools. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order to create a “cellphone-free education” as a necessary step to improve education and children’s mental health. In June, Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the nation, approved a resolution to develop a policy that bans student use of cellphones and social media platforms during the entire school day. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is undertaking a listening tour to help inform a policy proposal about how to deal with cellphones in classrooms.

“It is an encouraging sign that leaders across the country are working to enhance and improve learning environments because many people are realizing that our children’s education and mental health is being harmed by these digital distractions,” Henson said.

The whitepaper reveals that approaches to a cellphone free learning environment have differed. One Manchester, Connecticut, middle school started requiring students to lock up their phones in Yondr pouches during the school day. The school had policies in place prohibiting phone use during class, but administrators found enforcement was difficult and often came down to power struggles between students and teachers.

Michigan’s Tomlinson Middle School in the Westwood Community School District, implemented a classroom cell phone ban, resulting in higher rates of completed assignments and longer attention spans. In the lunchroom, students engaged in more social interaction due to the absence of cellphones.

“Ultimately, what will see these efforts succeed depends on parents themselves. Despite parents’ concerns about the harmful effects of screens on their children, parents are often standing in the way, citing that they want access to their children at every moment of the day. But ‘helicopter parenting’ can negatively impact a child’s development and growth, fueling anxiety, making children less willing to take healthy risks, and reducing their ability to regulate their emotions, exhibit self-control, and solve problems on their own,” said Henson, adding, “Of course parents also want their kids to be safe at school, one reason that’s frequently cited for why children are bringing cellphones to school. However, recording a dangerous encounter not only won’t keep your child safe, but may in fact escalate the situation.”

The PTC’s whitepaper provides a guide for parents and concerned citizens about how to advocate for cellphone policy changes. The full report can be downloaded here: https://www.parentstv.org/resources/PDF/Studies/240723-REPORT-School-Phone-Policies.pdf