Are Classroom Cellphone Bans Actually Working?
Phone fight.
The world has learned a few things since the advent of the iPhone back in 2007—first among them that it’s tough to learn anything when one’s close at hand. Ask any grade school teacher: multiplication tables can’t hold a candle to Call of Duty, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok—or in many cases, all of the above, all at the same time. To say nothing of the temptation to crib a few answers for today’s math quiz or write that essay on Hamlet due next period.
The United Nations noted as much in its lengthy 2023 report that questioned the unfettered use of smartphones and other technologies in the classroom. Canadian politicians, parents, and educators have agreed, rolling out a variety of new policies and directives that aim to turn the nation’s schools into phone-free zones. In this, Canada is running late to class: Italy started restricting mobile phone use in primary and secondary schools back in 2007. Japan followed suit in 2009, only to relax restrictions 10 years later. China has banned phones in class without parental consent since 2021. France first required students to put phones away during class in 2017; it now requires students to hand over their devices before class starts.
Such initiatives certainly get an A for effort. Results, however, seem a little harder to grade. Many teachers anecdotally report fewer phone-related disruptions and more human-to-human classroom interaction. Others report little change at all. As for objective data, researchers have noted the assignment remains incomplete. Do phone bans result in less student distraction? More in-class participation? Less anxiety and bullying? Improved grades? We’re still waiting for the final report card.
What do students think about such bans? While most are complying with the new rules (albeit grudgingly), reports of resistance abound. Some students have taken to hiding phones in hoodies or binders, turning in “burner” phones while keeping their real device on hand, or even disguising devices in calculator cases in an effort to skirt the rules. In response, teachers have turned to numbered phone caddies, magnetic lockable pouches, and good-old-fashioned detentions to enforce them.
It’s hard not to see it all figuratively, as a poignant, ironic microcosm of the struggles so many of us experience in setting personal limits on a technology we can no longer live without. In an increasingly digital world, the smartphone has transcended its role as mere technology and become something indispensable: a tool, yes, but also a cultural accessory, a status symbol, and (let us admit it) an addiction all in one. As the pressure to post, watch, comment, play, like, scroll, and swipe at all hours of the day grows ever stronger, little wonder why we want to give our kids some respite from it all, at least until the final bell rings. As for the rest of us—let’s just say class is still in session.
