Phones were banned at school: how they did something that hadn’t worked for ten years

By the beginning of the school year in the United States, a smartphone in the classroom had finally become contraband: 26 states introduced a complete ban on phones in schools “from bell to bell,” and Los Angeles went even further — it even restricted those gadgets that the school itself gives to children.

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The topic, of course, is not new — teachers and psychologists have been talking about the harm of smartphones for the attention of schoolchildren almost since the advent of the first iPhone, writes xrust. The difference is that previously these were recommendations and individual school rules, and now they are direct state laws with specific language, exceptions and responsibilities.

At least 38 states and the District of Columbia have required local school districts to limit student phone use in some way, according to a recent report from Education Week. Of these, 26 states have introduced a full-fledged “bell to bell” ban — that is, you cannot take out your smartphone for the entire school day, and not just during class. About 19 more states have taken a more lenient route: they have passed laws that allow or encourage counties to impose their own restrictions, but do not require a uniform standard for the entire state.

A JAMA Pediatrics survey showed that the de facto smartphone policy is already almost everywhere: it was confirmed by 99.7% of public school principals. Another thing is that previously these were internal rules of the school, which were easily ignored, but now they are a rule of law, for violation of which not only the student, but also the school itself is responsible.

How it works technically

There is no single federal standard in the USA, so each state and district comes up with the specifics — exactly how to “hide” the phone for the whole day. In practice, there are three main schemes:

• special boxes or lockers where the phone is handed over before the first lesson and picked up only after the last bell;
• individual locking spider cases that are given to the student: the phone is with him, but is physically inaccessible until the case is unlocked with a magnet at the exit;
• the simple requirement to put the phone in a backpack or locker without special equipment rests on the discipline and control of the teacher.

The state of New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul promoted the ban throughout 2025, went further than the rest: the authorities allocated $13.5 million specifically for the purchase of equipment for storing phones, so that schools did not have to solve this issue for themselves account.

The wave of laws did not come suddenly; it was preceded by about two years of targeted experiments in individual states. Florida was one of the first, back in 2023, to oblige school districts to limit the use of devices in classrooms, and it was its experience that was later analyzed in other legislatures as a model. In 2025, Arizona joined in (HB 2484 required districts to write their own rules and introduce them to parents at the beginning of the year), North Dakota (immediately introduced a bell-to-bell ban), and Georgia — they passed a separate “Distraction-Free Education Act”, which, from July 2026, prohibits personal electronic devices for students from kindergarten to eighth grade inclusive. Republican Scott Hilton, who promoted the Georgia law, then directly said that this was not just an “academic” initiative, but a matter of mental health and safety of children.

By 2026, spot stories had become a national trend: the figure of 26 states with a complete ban appeared in less than three years since the first Florida experiments — for American lawmaking, where it usually takes decades to agree on such initiatives, the speed is almost record-breaking.

Not everyone is delighted

Not everyone likes the idea. Some parents and advocacy groups have been pointing out the risks for years: If the school doesn't have a reliable way to contact the child directly, rather than through the secretary at the other end of the hallway, panic in an emergency situation will only grow. Separately, there are arguments from families of children with anxiety disorders, for whom the opportunity to write to parents at any time is not a whim, but part of therapy.

The logic is clear: there is little point in taking away a personal smartphone and immediately giving out a tablet with the same set of distractions. But it is this part of the reform that is causing the most controversy — school devices are formally considered an educational tool, and limiting their use is more difficult both politically and technically.

How can parents keep in touch with their child

The main argument of opponents of a total ban sounds predictable: what if something happens, and what if you urgently need to write to your child? States handle this differently, but almost everywhere schools are required to provide parents with an alternative channel of communication — through the school secretary, the landline in the reception area, or the district's emergency line. Formally, the law does not interfere; on the contrary, it requires that the school have a way to contact the family during the day, just not through the child’s personal smartphone.

Does this actually work

This is where the fun begins — and this is precisely the case when dry statistics do not confirm expectations. A 2025 USC survey of a representative sample of teenagers found that even in schools with strict restrictions, teens spent an average of about an hour and a half on their phones during the school day—meaning the ban is not as literal as intended. Almost half of those surveyed admitted that they used their phones in class contrary to the rules.

It turns out to be a funny picture: the law is in place, storage boxes have been purchased, and the teenager finds a way to bypass the system — hide the phone in his sleeve, take a second “spare” one, and persuade the teacher to make an exception. The severity of the ban, as usual, is compensated by the optionality of its compliance.

At the same time, supporters of the reform — teachers, school principals, some psychologists — insist: even a partial effect is worth it. They link the restrictions to increases in academic achievement, a decrease in cyberbullying on school grounds, and the gradual restoration of what English-language articles carefully call a “sense of school community”—when teenagers again talk to each other during breaks, rather than each sitting on their own screen.

The fundamental difference is that the Russian ban applies specifically to the lesson, and not to the entire school day: during breaks, before and after classes, you can use the phone. And, unlike the American model with boxes and locking cases, there is no uniform standard for storing gadgets in Russia — in some places phones are simply put in a backpack at the request of the teacher, in others they equip special storage cells, and the teacher has no right to take the phone by force: this would be a violation of property rights enshrined in the Civil Code.

Responsibility for violation in Russia is also softer than in America: the maximum that a schoolchild faces is a reprimand, reprimand or summons from parents, and it is generally impossible to expel a child under 15 from school under the law. In the USA, where the ban is enshrined not only at the school level, but also at the state level, sanctions can be tougher and more varied — from temporary removal of the device to suspension from classes, depending on the specific state and district.

So, if we compare by the letter of the law, Russian schoolchildren are technically in a slightly more comfortable position than their American peers: our ban is formally shorter in duration. But in spirit, both stories are as similar as two peas in a pod — in both cases, the authorities eventually admitted what teachers had been saying for years, and simply transferred it into the category of law, and not recommendations.

Sources:
patch.com
newsweek.com
psychologytoday.com

Xrust Phones were banned at school: how they did something that hadn’t worked for ten years