America’s largest school district, New York City, will not be adopting a cellphone ban, Mayor Eric Adams announced yesterday, citing logistical difficulties.

“We’re not there yet,” Adams said of the policy, distancing himself from the school cellphone ban Public Schools Chancellor David Banks claimed he and Adams would announce in July.

New York City is increasingly in the minority. Los Angeles Unified School District voted to forbid using cellphones and social media during the school day in June. According to The Washington Post, another six of America’s twenty largest school districts don’t allow cellphone use. Florida and Indiana have state-level bans on cellphones in schools. Another nine states recommend or incentivize cellphone bans and restrictions.

School cellphone bans have multiplied following a rash of reports showing how excessive screentime and social media use impact students’ academic performance and social wellbeing.

As many as 95% of American kids 13 to 17 years old use social media, according to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and one-third report using it “almost constantly.” A 2023 report from Common Sense Media contextualizes Murthy’s discovery, finding 97% of teens use their cellphone during school hours — primarily to play video games, browse social media and watch porn.

Near-constant notifications keep student’s attention on their phones, rather than their teachers or peers. The average teenager receives between 192 and 237 notifications on their cellphone per day — about 11 every waking hour, or one every five minutes.

Perhaps that’s why several studies have found “the mere proximity” of a phone, even turned off or in a backpack, can be disruptive. Other studies show students that observe another classmate on a phone exhibit the same negative effects.

Attention is a finite resource. When some — or all — of teens’ attention are on their phones, they have less brain power to devote to activities like “learning, logical reasoning, abstract thought and problem solving.” Once their focus is broken, students need up to 20 minutes to get back on track.

But phones and social media disrupt more than the classroom. They take up a significant portion of the time students used to spend with friends — face-to-face interactions vital to the formation of empathy and healthy relationships.

Sociologist Sherry Turkle notes technology’s effect on conversation, eroding young people’s ability to empathize, listen, read nonverbal cues and self-reflect. Part of the problem could be excessive screentime’s negative effect on the development of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, the parts of the brain that controls kids’ “emotional learning, behavior impulse control, emotional regulation and ability to moderate social behavior.”

“Although the data isn’t conclusive, ignoring it would be crazy,” former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote earlier this summer in support of school cellphone bans.

No one New York City seems to be denying cellphone’s negative effect on kids. Instead, the city’s anti-cellphone fervor seems to have stumbled over regulatory obstacles.

Part of the problem, ironically, is a former cellphone ban instituted by Bloomberg. The policy was so unpopular that Bloomberg’s successor, Bill de Blasio, campaigned on repealing it — a promise he delivered on in 2015.

De Blasio replaced Bloomberg’s ban with a policy that allowed schools to choose how they wanted to handle cellphones. According to the New York Times, many of the district’s 1,500 schools still enforce some kind of cellphone restriction.

Having already experienced a cellphone ban, teachers, principals and parents asked the Education Department practical questions about its enforcement, including:

• How would students’ get in contact with parents in an emergency?
• How would teachers discipline students who violated the rules?
• How would the city make sure cellphone rules are enforced the same in every school?
• Who would pay for the equipment to store cellphones?

New York City’s dilemma raises an important point — school cellphone bans in are easy to support, but difficult to enforce.

Allowing schools to choose their own restrictions, like de Blasio did in 2015, can be an effective way to regulate many schools. Choosing tailored policies can help navigate each school’s particular context, but it can also lead to discrepancies in student treatment and outcomes.

New York City seems interested in moving away from the school-specific model — but creating a policy that 1,500 schools can adopt and abide by is no easy task.

Henry Rubio, the head of New York City’s principals’ union told the Times point-blank, “The city needs to create clear citywide protocols so that principals aren’t left to navigate [a cellphone ban’s] implementation without adequate support and resources.”

Adams needs more time to figure out the logistics of a school cellphone ban — and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, a staunch supporter of such policies, says that is okay.

“I think it’s very wise to give schools a year to work out how they’re going to do this and then make it mandatory next September,” he told the Times.

As cities like NYC muddle through protecting kids, conscientious citizens should pray for policymaker’s wisdom and creativity. If a cellphone policy comes to your area, do your research and comment! Practical questions from citizens steer legislators in the right direction.

To learn about protecting kids in your state, contact your state Family Policy Council.

Additional Articles and Resources

Surgeon General Recommends Warning on Social Media Platforms

Four Ways to Protect Your Kids from Bad Tech, from Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt

Social Psychologist Finds Smartphones and Social Media Harm Kids in These Four Ways

Survey Finds Teens Use Social Media More Than Four Hours Per Day — Here’s What Parents Can Do

The Harmful Effects of a Screen-Filled Culture on Kids