Ever since William Schneider got his first iPhone in sixth grade, it has become a part of his existence. By day it’s in his right pants pocket; at night it’s within arm’s reach. He rarely talks to people on his phone, instead communicating via Instagram groups, TikTok memes and text. He syncs his calendar with his parents’ phones.
So when William, a 17-year-old student at Van Nuys High School, found out that mobile phones would be banned in all LA public schools, he immediately scoffed at it – like many others.
“I don’t see how that would work,” he said. “I don’t see how that would be fair. Is it necessary?”
Yet, after the initial shock and the outright “no” from many teen students, more nuanced thoughts emerge: Maybe we are falling into addiction to social media and cell phones. Maybe all the distractions and obsession with “likes” are bad for us. Maybe we need some relief.
William Schneider is in Van Nuys High School’s Medical Careers Magnet program.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Board of Education’s 5-2 The decision to ban cell phones The plan aims to change the behavior of a generation of students by January 2025 and will be one of the most significant and closely watched changes in schooling since students were forced to attend classes online — many via phone — at the start of the pandemic more than four years ago.
Details like how the rule will be enforced and where phones will be placed during the school day will be worked out in the coming months. But the goals are clear. school leaders say They want to tackle distractions in the classroom that are interfering with learning and reduce them Dangers of social media Addiction. Leaders say that at this time, strict phone restrictions are the only way students will be able to talk to each other and their teachers and value face-to-face interactions over digital connections.
“I understand the intent of the ban,” said Schneider, who is in the Medical Career Magnet Program and wants to become a physical therapist or physician assistant. “I definitely think phones can be addictive or distracting. It can be really easy to over-analyze everything you’re putting on social media. People — including me — fall into that trap very easily. They start basing their self-evaluation on how many likes they get on their stories, how many comments their friends are leaving, things that aren’t that important.”
He found himself endlessly scrolling through Instagram or repeatedly checking how many people liked a recent story he posted in which he and a friend went out to see “Inside Out 2.” He has also seen students in class turn to their phones when math instruction becomes challenging.
He also enjoys finishing his assignments early during English and then playing the word game Connection with friends – without any teacher objections. He said students with good grades like him don’t need a ban on phones. When two students Stabbed on campus When the school went on lockdown in November, William texted his mom to let her know he was safe. He wonders how emergencies would work without this option.
“For problematic people, this won’t prevent any addiction,” Schneider said. “If you want to be addicted to your phone, you will be.”
Los Angeles will join a growing movement to ban phones in K-12 education and has received the support of Governor Gavin Newsom, who has backed a bill to implement such a rule statewide. Last year, Florida passed a policy banning student cellphones in all K-12 classrooms. A similar law will take effect in Indiana next year. In Ohio, new legislation will force schools to create policies to “minimize student use” of cellphones. The nation’s largest school district, New York City, is set to go into effect later this year. Enforcing a ban on students’ cell phones A similar ban was imposed this month in Los Angeles, where a previous ban was lifted in 2015.
For Angelica Zamora-Reyes, a 17-year-old student at Downtown Magnets High School, the ban can’t come soon enough. She was one of dozens of L.A. students interviewed by the Times — and she expressed relief.
Angelica was very happy when her parents gave her an iPhone as a birthday gift three years ago because she was one of the last in her group of friends to get an iPhone. With time, she began to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the digital device.
Angelica Zamora-Reyes, 17, pictured using her iPhone at her Los Angeles home on July 2, 2024, will be a senior at Downtown Magnets High School this fall. She supports an upcoming school district policy to ban students from having cellphones during the day.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
When Angelica rode a public bus to an internship this summer, she texted her parents on the way to let them know she was safe. She has an Instagram account to connect with friends and watches YouTube videos, including campus tours and vlogs from students at USC and Harvard, her dream colleges. She also watches online math video tutorials on Khan Academy.
Angelica, who lives near Historic Filipinotown and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, found, through her phone, new ways to explore and expand her world beyond her corner of urban Los Angeles.
But she’s also seen the downsides of cellphones. She said girls at her school can become “obsessed” with social media, comparing their clothes, weight and following to other teens. She recently looked at her screen time monitor — 2.5 hours by late afternoon on a Thursday evening in June — and felt complacent, comparing herself to a cousin who used it multiple times per day.
Angelica tries to keep her phone in the side pocket of her backpack during the school day. But even if she avoids using it, she is distracted by other students on their phones.
She remembers an incident last year when a teacher in an Advanced Placement class gave instructions for an assignment, but she could barely hear them because of the loud, incessant laughter of two classmates engrossed in their phones.
Angelica said, “It was not only distracting, but also disrespectful to the teacher and any other students.” She remembers wishing all classes were like AP English, where her teacher banned phone use during class.
By the last semester of his senior year, he would have his wish come true.
But thinking about it, she also has some questions. Can she take out her phone to take pictures of her friends at lunch, as she often did last school year? Can she still sometimes use her phone to take pictures of the whiteboard instead of taking notes in class?
Under the approved ban, the answer is no. However, L.A. school officials said students will be involved in rulemaking and enforcement policies that will come before the school board in the fall.
“It would be great if phones were banned, but I can also see the positives,” Angelica said.
When Noreen Baig, another student at her school, first found out about the ban — from a post her mother made on Instagram via her mobile phone — she thought it was a hoax.
“A blanket ban is not good,” the Grade 11 student said. Phones are already banned in some of her classes.
She also worries about emergencies. Her school went on lockdown several times last year; each time she messaged her mother to check in.
“Do we now have to run to the office to call all the students in the same class?” Beg said. She also uses social media to find out when and where school clubs are meeting. During lunch, she connects with her friends in the cafeteria via Instagram messaging.
“My phone is a part of me,” Begay said. “LAUSD is trying to solve a small problem by taking away technology from everybody.”
For many students, the reality of what a cellphone ban would mean is hard to grasp.
But that’s not the case for Quindell Peral, an eighth-grader at Mark Twain Middle School.
Her mother, an algebra and data science teacher at Venice High School, was part of a team of teachers who launched a school-wide phone-free program in March. A wears a Gabb watch at school, a simplified version of the Apple Watch designed for limited functions — GPS and texting among them — so parents can keep in touch with kids. At home, A has a Wi-Fi-enabled iPad that she uses to text friends and play chess and Wordle.
Quindell Peral will be in eighth grade at Mark Twain Middle School this fall. This photo taken at her home in Mar Vista shows her supporting the LAUSD cellphone ban.
(Wally Scalise/Los Angeles Times)
She is one of only two people in her middle school friend group who does not have a phone. At first, A felt left out, even annoyed. Her parents say she will get a phone when she goes to high school, by which time the school will have a no-phone policy in place.
But going to school without a phone, A noticed she behaved differently than other students. She was able to focus better and longer on assignments and reading. She noticed that some classmates would hide their phones behind books during class, pretending to read while actually texting and scrolling. With her mother’s encouragement, she began learning more about teenagers and technology.
“Kids are at a critical time in their development right now. They’re at a time in their lives when their brain is developing a lot. They’re more vulnerable to peer pressure,” he said. “It’s really important that we don’t abuse the power that we get from our phones. It really depends on how you’re using it.”
Still, she’s looking forward to getting a cellphone when the time comes. She’s just not counting down to it like she used to.
