Kerby Anderson

Now that students are back in school, there is something missing in the classroom. What is missing are cell phones. Last month, the public schools in the District of Columbia banned cell phone use during school hours, joining many other school districts who have done the same.

The reason for these new rules should be obvious but are worth mentioning. More than 95 percent of teenagers have access to a cell phone and would be inclined to use it often while in school. Students would be less like to pay attention to teachers and would be distracted by the lure of videos on their phones. Every measure of declining academic performance by students points to the prevalence of cell phones.

Jonathan Haidt documents the negative impact of digital devices and social media in his book: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. As we have discussed in previous commentaries, he realized that something changed between 2010 and 2015, which is the period he calls “The Great Rewiring.” His book has graphs on the increase in major depression among teens, an increase in mental illness among college students, and an increase in anxiety prevalence by age.

Restricting or banning cell phones during school hours won’t resolve all these problems, since students will likely rush to their phones the minute school ends for the day. But any restriction will certainly have an impact. And the problem of distracted students should significantly diminish.

Not everyone is happy with these restrictions because they are concerned about the impact on “marginalized students.” But most classrooms and school libraries do have computers that can be used to access information rather than look at TikTok videos.

This new policy is already showing some positive results. I predict more school districts this year will follow suit.