- A new study showed a shift towards statewide bans on cellphones in public schools.
- Research shows a correlation between cellphone use and mental health issues in youth.
- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said a cellphone ban is the “most important thing that we can do for our students in our schools today.”
A study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics analyzed the policies of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to see which had cellphone bans or limitations in public schools.
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The authors found 42 jurisdictions had statewide laws or policies restricting cellphones in K-12 public schools, while the other nine did not.
The trends
The study, led by Y. Tony Yang of George Washington University, said school-level limitations on nonacademic cellphone use in schools have declined in past years, despite research showing a correlation between smartphone use and “increases in anxiety, depression and psychological distress among youths.”
From 2009 to 2010, 91% of public schools had prohibitions on cellphone use in school, but from 2021 to 2022, only 76% did.
In 2023, one state, Florida, enacted a statewide ban on cellphones in public schools. Now that number has grown to 42.
The states without statewide policies regarding cellphone use in schools, according to the study, are Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Illinois, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
Among the 42 jurisdictions with statewide policies, “32 (76%) enacted a statewide ban during instructional time, two (5%) limited use with local flexibility, three (7%) encouraged district-adopted policies and five (12%) required district-adopted policies without specification.”
Among the 32 statewide bans, 15 of them were bell-to-bell bans, while 17 allowed phone usage during noninstructional times of the school day, such as lunch and between classes.
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It also said bans were uniform across grades, with no grade-level-specific limitations in any states.
A major shift
The study concluded that the adoption of statewide cellphone policies “represents a major shift in educational governance,” and it emphasized the regulation of cellphones in classrooms is a bipartisan effort.
The research “suggests broad agreement that cellphones disrupt the learning environment, consistent with evidence that cellphone-related task switching impairs academic performance.” But the study noted it’s difficult to find direct evidence showing cellphone use is linked to declining mental health in youth.
In Utah
The Policy Project, a nonprofit organization in Utah, has been pushing to limit cellphone use in Utah schools. Its website says:
- 97% of students with phones use them during school hours
- The average teen receives 237 notifications per day
- When students have their phone in class, they lose focus within 10-15 minutes
- 72% of U.S. high school teachers say phones are a major distraction
- Reports of loneliness among students have doubled since 2012—tracking closely with the rise of smartphones.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bell-to-bell cellphone ban into law for K-12 public schools that took effect on July 1, 2026.
“I am convinced, more than ever, that a ‘bell-to-bell’ cellphone ban is the single most important thing that we can do for our students in our schools today,” Cox said, per Deseret News’ previous reporting.
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