Hold the Phone

Adam Lu • November 4, 2024

For students, cell phones are a fact of life, and many instinctively reach for their pocket for that familiar object whenever they need mental stimulation. With their obsession comes an onslaught of consequences, as there is no question that students spend too much time on their phones, spending hours consuming “brain rot” content online that could be put to better use, especially during school hours. As school kicked off across California, legislators in Sacramento devised a new plan for students – a cell phone ban. Dubbed the “Phone-Free Schools Act,” the bill was passed in late August and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 23, requiring that all school districts in California implement a policy either limiting or prohibiting the use of cell phones on campus during school hours by July 2026. California is not the only state to pass such a bill – Florida, Ohio, Louisiana and others have already passed similar ones. The bill promises a multitude of mental health improvements and is sure to enhance students’ educational experiences.

While the bill gives districts the option to “limit” phone use, some are leaning more toward “prohibiting” phone use, including Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) — the second-largest school district in the nation and just one of the many in California to make a drastic, albeit necessary change (EdSource). Students in LAUSD schools will no longer be allowed to take out their cell phones without risking confiscation, a beneficial rule that will force students to do schoolwork instead of using their phones.

An important reason for the passage of the bill was concern over the mental health of students, something that many struggle with: 4 in 10 teenagers report persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Peninsula, in particular, is very academically rigorous, and many students use their phones as an escape from the stress of schoolwork.

“[We] already have a culture [in which] you are expected to react to texts and messages almost immediately as if you are always on your phone,” Kimoto said. “That [has been cemented] as [a] cultural norm, so it would be difficult to adjust [to the new law]. Schoolwork is the larger mental health stressor for students.”

However, phones can increase the strain on mental health by giving people a “fear of missing out” through a constant barrage of notification rings, dings and pings (Columbia University Department of Psychiatry). They also cause people to get worse sleep on average as they spend time staring at their phones before bed every night. This is true for many Peninsula students who often report that they sleep at ridiculously late times, compounded by the fact that many of them do not pay attention in class when they have their phones around. One study found that the mere presence of a cell phone is enough to lower people’s attention spans (University of Chicago Press Journals). One way teachers combat this issue is by having designated cell phone holders, with students putting their phones in a specific pocket before class.

“During [my] English class, students are not allowed to use their phones,” English 2 and Culinary Arts teacher Mariana Donahoe said. “I have a pocket chart. Everyone is assigned a [pocket] number and I use it to take attendance, but I do not require this during Culinary Arts. Some students are engaged, cooking [and] talking to others, but some students are on their phone the whole time.”

Not everyone is on board with the policy. Some parents have voiced complaints about the limits the cell phone ban places on parent-child and emergency contact communication in the event of an emergency. However, it is unclear if the flood of phone calls to emergency services from students in the same school would help, or if it would merely stretch resources thinner as workers desperately try to answer them all. Opponents point to tragedies like Uvalde, Parkland and the recent school shootings in Georgia, where students’ access to cell phones played a crucial role in the response to the situation (AP News). However, those situations are not very common, and when they do arise, the utility of student cell phones is at most dubious.

“[I doubt the phone ban would have] much of an impact, because people who do not care [will continue] to use their phones, [and] people who care [already do not] use their phones,” junior Vincent Cheng said.

The effectiveness of the ban will rest on teachers’ willingness to enforce it, which in turn rests on the willingness of the students to comply. Any potential downsides or shortcomings to the ban will surely be made up for by the amount of time saved. Assuming students spend an average of 30 minutes on their phones during school every day, that amounts to hundreds of hours collectively wasted, since students are usually not productive on their cell phones. This generation of students’ brains have developed to expertly consume the social media sludge generously called “content,” but no longer know how to create ideas and think critically. It might be difficult getting used to a cell phone ban, but the benefits far outweigh any inconveniences that may arise.