Limit use of cellphones in schools

As a new school year gets underway, cellphone use has taken its place alongside many educational concerns, from the continuing learning lag in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to drops in enrollment that threaten school funding to worries about students' mental health and emotional well-being. Research shows cellphone use exacerbates some of those issues.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is undertaking a listening tour, as the state considers proposing legislation setting limits on cellphones in the classroom. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is considering a cellphone ban in city schools. On Long Island, school districts are making their own policies with hopes of help from statewide guidance and standards.

Limiting cellphone use in classrooms has clear upsides. More than 70% of high school teachers nationwide say cellphone distraction is a "major problem," according to a recent Pew Research study. Students would be more engaged and, hopefully, more prepared and able to learn without the cellphone buzzing by their sides or in their laps. They would socialize with one another more, too, if they weren't staring at the small electronic device. Cyberbullying could diminish. And students' concentration and focus would certainly improve if they weren't always anticipating the next notification, story or post.

All of those upsides could happen if teachers put down their cellphones, too.

Some parents consider such policies an abridgment of "parental rights." Others point to the need for cellphones in emergencies. But there are other ways to reach a school or a student — as there were in the years before cellphones.

There are many ways to limit cellphone use in the classroom — and Hochul should consider them all. Yondr, a company that makes magnetically locked pouches, is paying tens of thousands of dollars to lobby both the state and the city. But some districts don't have funds to spend on expensive mechanisms. There are plenty of models of how to limit use already in place in other jurisdictions that should be examined.

Just as the state does with all sorts of educational issues, New York officials should focus on developing a uniform approach that establishes appropriate standards and guidance without dictating methods, promoting specific products or vendors, or increasing costs. That starts with recognizing that limiting, if not eliminating, cellphone use in the classroom is a worthwhile goal. Considering best practices and studying current research will help officials craft regulations but districts must be given flexibility to put that guidance, informed by parental input, into place.

Ultimately, classrooms should be places for teaching and learning, not buzzing and beeping.