As smartphones have become ubiquitous among teens, schools have increasingly had to wrestle with the problem of managing their use in class.
While some educators feel there’s a place for smartphones in the classroom, others see them as a distraction and source of cyberbullying. And research indicates they can have a negative effect on learning and attention. By 2020, 77% of schools reported prohibiting cellphones for non-academic use, according to the federal National Center for Education Statistics.
When schools shifted to virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, policies to limit or ban cellphones became meaningless, as many students relied on their phones for both schoolwork and entertainment.
