Lunch is noisy at Ottumwa High School in Ottumwa, IA. Yet, Superintendent Mike McGrory has found it a welcome change after the Ottumwa School District voted to ban cell phone use during school. The district currently only allows phones to be locked up in students’ lockers during school hours, making it the strictest policy in the state of Iowa. “What we found is kids could be sitting at a table around their friends, but then they would be texting other people, and you aren’t really, truly there. And then you worry about if you don’t get a text back right away from your other friends,” said McGrory. Gateway High School principal Aaron Ruff noted that as an alternative school, many of the school’s students deal with anxiety, something research has shown can be increased by constant cell phone use. “I think that message is coming through a little bit, that, you know, this is for me to be healthy.” The impact of the ban has even extended to homes. “I’ve been hanging out with my family, actually. I’m usually just locked up in my room,” said Gateway freshman, Paizlee Thomason.

Ruff encourages other schools to participate in cell phone bans. “Do it. Do it. It’s not as bad as you think. I think parents are well aware of what cell phones are doing to their kids. They’re seeing it at home. I think parents are behind this.” A group that included students led to the district-wide ban after researching cell phones’ effects on student mental health and educational outcomes. Originally, the program had been implemented in the elementary schools and piloted in a Jr. High. “So, the question came to us what if we did a district wide ban?” stated Ottumwa High School Principal Shelley Bramchreiber. “We began a gathering committee with students, community members, staff members, administrators, central office staff and board members. We tried to gather stakeholders from every realm to be part of this committee to see what it would look like in our schools.”

Cell phone bans at schools are becoming a nationwide trend as more and more schools are seeing positive outcomes from students having less distractions. Jessica Sax, the principal at Hyre CLC of Akron Public Schools in Ohio, shared that students’ better attention was leading to better grades. It has also led to a better social environment. “We have seen a significant decrease in the number of what we would say were pre-planned fighting where students were texting, messaging each other, talking about going and meeting somewhere in the building or classroom and fights occurring. This is something that is positively impacting our district, positively impacting our students, and I would say this is something we should continue with,” said Sax. New York City, which boasts 900,000 students, is making a push for a city-wide ban, with many schools already enacting their own bans without a city policy. Around 350 schools are already enforcing bans in some form or another, with another 500 expected to enact their own bans as well. A city-wide ban could take effect in February, with New York governor Kathy Hochul planning to implement a statewide cell phone policy. New York City public schools Chancellor David Banks stated that although bans don’t solve all problems, something has to be done. “We don’t think it’s a panacea. I don’t think taking phones away is going to mean it’s going to solve all the issues, but we have absolutely seen an increase in mental health issues,” he warned.