Student cell phone use in schools may soon become a thing of the past. Mandates have been passed in the majority of states, at least 34, restricting cell phone use, and Minnesota is no exception.
By March of 2025, all school districts in the state were required to have a cell phone policy outlining student use. Districts are choosing between strict “away for the day” policies and milder limits that restrict use to breaks, such as lunch or passing time.
This changing landscape is impacting student culture, and understanding the real-world barriers and benefits is essential for every leader navigating this new reality.
Secondary principal focus groups
To study its impact, focus groups were conducted with nine Minnesota secondary principals who had implemented a cell phone ban policy in their schools prior to the legislation being passed. The goal was to gain insight into how these policies were implemented and what outcomes had been realized.
4 cell phone ban policy benefits
School administrators who were early adopters of cell phone ban policies were starting to see their benefits in a myriad of ways:
- Improved peer-to-peer social interactions: Since students had their phones away during the school day, they were talking to each other more frequently face-to-face. Principals observed, “The kids are actually talking to each other in the hallways and at lunch, and they’re engaging with each other. They seem happier.”
- Less drama and need for discipline: Without access to social media, students were spending less time posting and planning fights. The fact is, when cell phone usage was reduced, “real-time social media impact is greatly reduced,” meaning that issues now mostly are “happening in the evenings.”
- Focused instruction and improved academics: Students were more focused when cell phones were put away. This also eliminated the need for teachers to manage devices while instructing. Class attendance had increased, and while hard data still needed to be collected, schools were starting to see “the decrease of failures… since we implemented this policy.”
- Improved student mental health: Continuous cell phone use can “really get you in a spiraling position.” Putting cell phones away helped to reduce the time spent thinking about social media posts and what others think of you online. This, in turn, reduced the amount of intervention needed by professionals such as school counselors.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Cell phone ban policies were developed with the input of stakeholders. Communication of the policy happened in several formats, through face-to-face meetings, surveys, focus groups, slide shows and updates to the student handbook.
One principal reflected, “…we just communicated, communicated, communicated.”
Addressing parent pushback
Once the policy was established, school leaders’ main challenge was pushback from parents. “We did encounter some parents who are like, no, my child is going to have their phone on them and if something happens, they’re going to call me directly, and I need them to have it because I need to know that they were safe.”
In response, school principals developed plans so that parents could still send a message to their child in the event of an emergency via the school’s front office.
Does your state have a cell phone use policy? View this map for details.
