Pew: 68% of American adults support banning cellphone use in middle and high schools

Whether smartphones should be banned in American schools is a controversial issue. While parents don't want their children to be distracted from their studies, they also want to be able to contact their children in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting. A new survey confirms this view, showing that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support banning cell phones during school hours, but only 36% want to ban cell phones during the entire school day.

Whether smartphones should be banned in American schools is a controversial issue. While parents don't want their children to be distracted while studying, they also want to be able to contact their children in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting. A new survey confirms this view, showing that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support banning cell phones during school hours, but only 36% want to ban cell phones during the entire school day.

The Pew Research Center surveyed 5,110 American adults. The results showed that 68% of respondents supported banning middle and high school students from using mobile phones in class, 24% opposed it, and 8% were unsure.

Among those who favor a classroom smoking ban (45% strongly support it), the majority (98%) cite “reduced student distraction” as a reason for supporting a classroom smoking ban. The other three reasons are that students will develop better social skills (91%), will be less likely to cheat (85%), and will reduce bullying (70%).

While the majority wanted cell phones to be banned in class, only about a third (36%) of participants wanted cell phones to be banned for the entire school day.

Unsurprisingly, being able to contact children when needed was the most common reason against banning phones in the classroom, with 86% of participants giving this reason. Other reasons included that a ban would be too difficult to enforce (73%), that phones are a useful teaching tool (70%), and that parents, not teachers, the state or the government, should decide whether children can use phones in class (64%).

Older adults and self-identified Republicans are more supportive of banning smoking in the classroom and throughout school breaks.

In the past year, at least 15 states have passed laws or policies banning the use of smartphones in public schools.

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law requiring school districts in the state to limit or ban student smartphone use on school grounds or under the supervision of school staff. The rules must be passed by July 1, 2026.

New York State also planned to ban smartphones in schools, but recently abandoned the idea after Louis D. Brandeis High School failed to properly notify parents during a lockdown.

Eton College, a prestigious British boarding school, has taken a novel approach to reducing mobile phone use among students: providing them with school-provided Nokia dumb phones with no network connection.

From Chinese Industry Information Station