More parents now support phone-free schools

As more states pass legislation curbing cell phone use during school, more parents are getting on board with the idea, according to a new survey commissioned by Yondr, an American company known for its Yondr Pouch that stores phones to prevent use in designated phone-free spaces.

In partnership with DKC Analytics, Yondr surveyed 1,000 U.S. parents of school-aged children and found that a majority of parents — 56 percent — support either a bell-to-bell phone-free policy or a complete ban on phones in schools.

In fact, parents expect schools to take a stronger lead on the issue than perhaps they have in the past. A majority of parents — 89 percent — want schools to have a long-term plan for school phone use and want consistent enforcement: 91 percent expect appropriate disciplinary actions for cell phone use infractions, and 93 percent expect clear emergency protocols.

But the specifics of cell phone use aren’t always clearly communicated, according to respondents. Only 48 percent of parents said their child’s school has a clear cell phone policy. Among the parents who know about the policy, 74 percent support it with only 12 percent opposing it.

Parents ranked inappropriate use of phones (cyberbullying, sharing inappropriate content) and phones creating distractions during instruction as the two most serious phone-related issues for schools.

Minnesota

During the 2024 legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers mandated school districts adopt a cell phone policy by March 15, 2025. As my colleague Tom Steward previously covered here, a handful of school districts had cell phone policies in place prior to the legislature’s directive.

Some policies, like the Mankato school district’s, prohibit cell phone use during instructional time, requiring them to be on silent and kept out of sight, but allow high school students to use their phones in the hallways during passing time and at lunch. Younger students can’t pull out their phones at all during the day. The Anoka-Hennepin school district modified its phone guidelines at the middle and high school levels during summer 2023, removing cell phone use from the classroom to “increase student engagement and learning, and limit the negative impacts of social media.” High school students can use their phones during passing time and at lunch.

International impact

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), who administers the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the only cell phone school policy resulting in a statistically significant reduction in distractions as measured during math lessons was a complete cell phone ban on school premises.