When setting cellphone restrictions for students during the school day, educators should also consider helping students build and practice healthy digital habits, suggests a new report by researchers from the University of California and California State University.
The research brief comes from the two university systems’ Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning—a research and educational policy group composed of faculty from both universities—and the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, an educational think tank.
It examines current research about cellphones’ impact on students’ learning and well-being and perspectives from students, school staff, and families, as well as cellphone policy trends. The researchers then translated those findings into policy recommendations for schools and districts.
The report comes as the number of states restricting students’ cellphone use in schools has increased dramatically over the past year. Now, at least 32 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones in schools, according to an Education Week tally, up from 6 states a year ago.
Kathy Do, the assistant project scientist for UCLA’s school of education and information studies and the lead author of the report, spoke to Education Week about what makes a good cellphone policy.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What are the major findings you and your colleagues gathered about cellphones’ impact on student learning and well-being?
The first is that splitting attention between classwork and cellphones can hurt learning and focus, unless phones are used intentionally as part of instruction.
The second is that students really need support from adults building healthy digital habits, especially with apps designed to be addictive, at a time when their self-regulation skills and brains are still developing.
The third key finding is that using phones isn’t inherently beneficial or harmful in and of themselves. It’s really how they’re used that matters. The goal is to make sure that screen time adds to young people’s lives and does not take away from sleep, exercise, or time with others.
Pairing restrictions with education for students and adults on why building healthy habits is important in and out of school is going to be really key.
Does the research point to what would be a good cellphone restriction policy?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer that aligns with the research on how brains and behaviors from childhood to adolescence are affecting how comfortable young people are and how ready young people are in navigating things like phones and other digital spaces.
We know for many students, especially those with learning or health needs, phones are essential. One of the things we really highlight is that the goal shouldn’t just be about restriction, but also helping young people build balanced digital habits, which builds on some of the research that we summarize in our report.
Are you seeing a lot of schools that are providing lessons about healthy digital habits?
It didn’t jump out to us that it was a common practice to pair the restriction policies with that digital citizenship training.
One of the reasons why that was a key recommendation was because just stopping at the restriction is not going to help young people and adults build balanced digital habits. And it’s not just a responsibility that can stop at school—[it] also needs to be reinforced and understood at home and in the community. Pairing restrictions with education for students and adults on why building healthy habits is important in and out of school is going to be really key.
What are some concerns you heard from students, families, and educators?
Some students’ perspectives we noticed is that they could see the benefits of phone restrictions in schools for improving learning and focus and the benefits of phone-free interactions, but they also, especially older students, express a desire for more autonomy and managing phone use at school.
From educators’ or school staff administrators’ perspectives, it’s really important that the [implementation] responsibility is shared schoolwide so that it reduces staff burden.
From families, there’s generally support, but also concerns for the implementation of cellphone policies around wanting to stay in contact with their kids, especially in emergency situations.
Taking into consideration family safety expectations, but also school administrators and staff wanting to keep their students safe and follow crisis protocols when there are emergencies, is a balance that needs to be considered as school leaders design and implement policies that might be best for their local community’s needs.
What other recommendations do you have for education leaders designing these policies?
One of the key issues that we wanted to raise attention to with this report is that policies designed to limit cellphone use [should] still enable students to access the learning and all the tools they need. Schools need to make sure they’re building in clear exceptions for individualized education programs or 504 plans.
Another is, consistency really matters. The policies need to be applied fairly to reduce disparities in implementation or impact, especially students from historically marginalized groups.
We also would suggest matching rules to age, considering stricter limits in middle school, because we know that students are just beginning to own their own phones in the transition into middle school, and their self-regulation skills and their brains are still developing. Then allowing for more flexibility for older students, so that they have the opportunity and autonomy to learn how to build balanced digital habits they can practice in and out of school.
Beyond having a policy, are there other ways schools can ensure students have healthy digital habits?
Leading by example—actually modeling healthy phone habits early on and discussing why they matter, because we know young people learn from the adults around them. We suggest encouraging self-awareness, for young people, but also adults.
It’s a challenge that we’re all trying to navigate, balancing our phone use in healthy ways. Ask yourself or young people that you work with when and how their phone habits might make it hard to concentrate, or when it might interfere with other healthy behaviors.
