Nearly 3 in 4 principals believe banning cellphones has big upsides for school climate, according to a report published this month by the research think tank RAND Corp.
“Principals overwhelmingly felt that these cellphone bans had safety-related benefits,” said Melissa Kay Diliberti, an associate policy researcher at RAND who worked on the report. And it appears most school leaders believe that “the benefits of the bans outweigh the trade-offs.”
Two-thirds of principals say nixing cellphones cut down on incidents of students using their phones for inappropriate behavior, such as photographing classmates in the restroom or locker room or recording or streaming a physical fight in school.
More than half of principals—54%—say cellphone bans helped diminish cyberbullying that starts during school hours.
A little less than half—44%—say limiting cellphone use has decreased student distractions during emergency drills, as well as actual emergencies, according to the report. And a quarter—26%—say the bans have reduced the use of cellphones to make threats against the school, including on social media.
Smaller percentages of principals saw downsides to the bans.
One in 5—21%—say the bans have increased concerns among parents who no longer have a direct way to contact their children, especially during emergencies.
One in 10 say students feel anxious because they can’t contact their parents as readily. And 1 in 20 say the bans have placed new burdens on administrators to serve as a communication link between parents and students around routine issues, such as early dismissals.
Simply not allowing students to access their phones during the day helped students focus better in class, said Tori Snitker, the principal of Rolla Junior High in Rolla, Mo.
“Without their phones, students are forced to put their full attention on the teacher, the lesson materials, and their classmates,” Snitker said in an email interview.
Still, there are some key data points absent from both the report and from most research on cellphone bans, Diliberti said.
“What’s missing from all of the knowledge that we have on cellphone bans thus far is what enforcement of the bans looks like,” Diliberti said. That includes questions such as: “How strict are teachers when it comes to enforcing the ban? How much time are they spending enforcing the ban? And does that time take away from other activities in the classroom?”
Most schools restrict cellphones but don’t prohibit them
Most schools put some sort of restrictions on cellphones, according to the report. But high schools are less likely to have so-called “bell to bell bans,” in which students can’t use their phones at all during the school day.
Eighty-two percent of elementary schools don’t allow cellphone use at all, along with 78% of middle schools. By contrast, just under a quarter of high schools—23%—have such outright prohibitions.
Instead, a plurality of high schools—49%—restrict phone use but allow students to use their devices during nonclass time. Another 24% of high schools allow cellphone use during class, at the teacher’s discretion.
The RAND report is based on three nationally representative surveys administered during the 2024–25 school year. Two of them were administered to the RAND American School Leader Panel of approximately 8,000 K–12 school principals. The third survey was administered to members of the newly established American Youth Panel of about 2,000 youth ages 12 to 21.
