Schools Race To Ban Phones

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More and more states are limiting student cellphone use in schools. This is due to growing fears about the effects of social media on today’s youth.

—The New York Times

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Last year, Florida became the first state to ban phone use during class time in all public schools. We predicted similar bans would spread to other states. It turns out we were right. (See “Demography Roundup #10.”)

Over the last year, more than eight states have taken action to curb school phone use. Here is an update on where these policies stand.

• New Bans: Starting this school year, Indiana, Louisiana, and South Carolina will ban the use of phones either during class time or during the entire day. To be sure, most schools already have rules against phone use during class time. But the new policies standardize such rules across school districts and give them teeth. Punishments for breaking the rules range from confiscating phones to exclusion from extracurriculars.

• Lockable Bags: Pennsylvania and Delaware have recently received millions of dollars in grants to buy lockable pouches. These pouches allow students to keep their phones in their possession, but they can only be unlocked by a special magnet which are typically accessible only when students leave school premises. These pouches are made by Yondr, which estimates it will serve over 2M students by the end of the year.

• Policies in Development: In Virginia, Gov. Youngkin has directed state agencies to create “cellphone-free” school procedures for the 2025 academic year. Minnesota and Ohio have similarly directed schools to make such policies. And the governors of California and New York have both declared they are working on new legislation to limit student phone use.

What’s behind these bans? Parents, educators, and policymakers are concerned about the effects of social media on today’s kids. Many fear that screen addiction facilitates body image dysphoria, loneliness, anxiety, depression, lower grades, and cyberbullying. These worries were put front and center in Jonathan Haidt’s recent best-seller, The Anxious Generation.

What’s more, it’s an issue that cuts across the partisan divide. The red zone doesn’t trust Big Tech. (See “Americans Don’t Trust Big Tech.”) And while blue zone parents may be a bit more trustful—after all, these are the parents who generally run Big Tech firms—most believe digital immersion is unhealthy for kids. Many have always favored more holistic and kinesthetic educational environments like Montessori and Waldorf schools.

Some Xer parents have conflicting opinions on these bans. They want to protect their children from Big Tech, but they also want the ability to contact their children at all times. A growing number understand that, from now on, they will have to ease up on their 24-7 surveillance regimen: During school hours, from now on, communication will have to go through the school office.

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Did You Know?

• Age Gaps Decline. According to a new Pew analysis, the age gap between husbands and wives hit an all-time low of 2.2 years in 2022. In comparison, the average gap was 4.9 years in 1880. Today, 51% of married couples have a partner who is within two years of age. That’s a rise of +5 percentage points since 2000. This narrowing age gap is one reason the share of widows has significantly declined over the last 30 years. (The other reason is the narrowing life expectancy gap between men and women.)

  

  Source: Pew