by Anita Charles
In sitting down to write this blog post, I grabbed my smartphone: What was on my calendar? In what year did a book get written? Had I missed any messages from friends? How much did I sleep last night? Have I stood up every hour today? What’s the weather going to be tomorrow? Before I knew it, I found myself finishing the NYT crossword and Wordle, checking news headlines, watching a funny video, and considering a clothing purchase.
The above paragraph may make me sound like I’m a young person with poor attention and executive functioning skills. In fact, I am a “boomer” with finely-tuned organizational skills. Yet even I find myself constantly pulled by the proximity of my smartphone, a device that didn’t hit mainstream usage until 2007.
Dramatic Change Over Recent Decades
In school systems during the 2010s, teachers were only beginning to understand the impact of cell phones in the classroom. Teachers and students negotiated rules around cell phones in classrooms, carving out boundaries with which everyone – youth and adults alike – could live, and even thrive. School-wide cellphone bans tended to be reactive rather than proactive, were largely unenforceable, and did not allow any wiggle room for positive consideration of cell phones in classrooms. During the 2010s, new technologies quickly supplanted the old and smartphones becoming necessary extensions of our bodies and minds as the years passed.
In the year 2026, some factors have changed since the early 2010s:
- there are far more smartphones in classrooms and in the general public than ever before, and data indicates that most teachers find them distracting;
- we have more information and research on the complexities of cell phone usage in schools, including impact on our intellectual and emotional wellbeing;
- we adults are now fully embedded in our own smartphone usage;
- Millennials are now raising and teaching children and teens, meaning that many adults are also deeply familiar and engaged with these technologies.
Situation Modification
In a graduation speech at Bates College, Dr. Angela Duckworth, the author of the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (2018), suggested that decreasing our phone temptation is less about willpower and more about “situation modification,” by placing our phones at a distance to assist in making better choices. When Duckworth began her speech, she asked everyone to hand off their phones to someone else, thereby rendering us unable to respond to a ping, or to send a quick text about lunch, or to scroll through cat videos while we only half-listened. We were not relying on our individual internal control, but instead changed our environment to support a different approach.
Dr. Duckworth explained that willpower alone seldom works to keep us from addictive tendencies; we need some distance from the thing that pulls our attention. By placing our phones out of reach, we no longer had to make the choice ourselves about whether to check for messages or scroll through social media. In that moment, many of us thought about reaching for our phones, but our perseverations were tempered by distance, by modifying the situation to help us stay focused and present. We use physical distance to create psychological distance.
Our students – and, let’s face it, we as adults – struggle to decrease phone usage and to increase our real-time interactions with each other. At the start of my own college class sessions, I now regularly ask my students to be present in body, mind, and spirit. I ask them to close their devices, put their phones out of reach, and turn and greet their neighbor with a real conversation for a few minutes. I ask them to look out the window at the sky. I give stretch breaks, and I encourage them to develop good habits of mind, such as sharing ideas to minimize anxiety or increase productive work time.
Could Cellphone Bans Be a Form of Situation Modification?
Recent research, led by Dr. Duckworth, suggests that schoolwide bans on cell phones may be working to minimize distraction and increase face-to-face social interaction.
Nationwide, strong restrictions are supported by administrators and teachers. Not surprisingly, school-wide bell-to-bell bans do indeed minimize distractions and decrease some problematic behaviors. In essence, these bans create “situation modification,” and the widespread implementation of bans across the country sets a new norm that is hard to argue against and that is quickly becoming the status quo.
Questions to Ask When Developing Cell Phone Bans
School personnel who are developing cell phone bans should be asking questions about the processes being implemented, to avoid unintended consequences. Consider the following:
- Are the bans or procedures being enforced uniformly across all classrooms?
- What are the penalties if the ban is broken? Are the penalties being distributed unequally or unjustly among certain subgroups or demographics?
- Who may end up with their hands on an expensive piece of equipment? If so, what happens if the phone is broken, stolen, or lost while in someone else’s possession?
- Do the bans apply equally to adults in the school?
- To what extent have students been invited to assist with creating the rules?
- What data is being gathered on the effectiveness of bans?
These questions encourage stronger student ownership and more critical exploration of where power lies in interactions. They ask that policies be developed with mindful monitoring and assessing.
The Jury is Still Out
As part of my job, I regularly visit middle and high school classrooms. Recently I visited a 9th grade science classroom, where student phones had been placed in a slotted wooden tray on the teacher’s desk. There were 14 students present, yet only 8 phones in the box. Mid-class, a boy approached the box, took out his phone and wrote several texts with it, then slipped the phone into his pocket and asked the teacher if he could go to the bathroom. Despite a school-wide ban, students were still finding ways to break the rules.
It remains to be seen whether today’s bans on cell phones will have the desired effect on student wellbeing and educational processes. Although students and parents still prefer less strict policies, some bans have been implemented with student input. Students generally recognize they need enforcement of situation modification of phones, and they also need guidance and education around social-emotional impact, including the addictive qualities of screens.
Sources:
Arundel, Kara. 2026. "Poll shows most teens oppose classroom cellphone bans." K12 Dive. Jan 15. https://www.k12dive.com/news/most-teens-oppose-classroom-school-cellphone-bans/809624/#:~:text=Dive%20Brief:,13
Cerny, Jen. 2025. "Effective school phone policies can reshape school culture." SmartBrief. Oct 22. https://www.smartbrief.com/original/effective-school-phone-policies-can-reshape-school-culture
Duckworth, Angela. 2025. "Do School Cell Phone Bans Help Students Do Better?" Knowledge at Wharton. Nov 11. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/do-school-cell-phone-bans-help-students-do-better/#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways%20*%20Teachers%20report%20higher%20satisfaction,with%20bans%2C%20teachers%20reported%20increased%20student%20interaction
Duckworth, Angela. 2025. "Angela Duckworth at Bates: Push those cell phones away." Bates College YouTube. May 30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxVsaNFLEa4 Angela Duckworth at Bates: Push those cell phones awayAngela Duckworth at Bates: Push those cell phones away
Hatfield, Jenn. 2024. "72% of U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom." Pew Research Center. Jun 12. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/12/72-percent-of-us-high-school-teachers-say-cellphone-distraction-is-a-major-problem-in-the-classroom/
Modan, Naaz. 2025. "Most school leaders report cellphone restrictions, widely seen as beneficial." K12 Dive. Oct 9. https://www.k12dive.com/news/rand-jama-studies-cellphone-restritions-bans-bell-to-bell-student-support-2025/802405/
