At a recent Back to School Night held at Venice High School, I was impressed to see signs in many classrooms prohibiting students from using mobile phones.
But I wondered, how do teachers deal with kids who break the rules?
My niece’s ethnic studies teacher said, “I try not to be punitive.”
So why not? I wanted to ask. Why not send them to the vice principal’s office, like teachers did in the old days?
A few days later, my ninth-grader proudly showed me a TikTok dance video she and her friend had created in their math class.
I asked, “Why were you making a video of yourself in class when phones are banned?”
“Oh, it was before the bell rang,” she said, “and the teacher said it was all right.”
Really? Maybe it’s the teacher who needs to talk to the vice-principal. (I’m kidding, Mr. P!)
About a week later, I found myself among hundreds of parents in a Zoom meeting that was billed as an opportunity for parents of the Los Angeles Unified School District to discuss. The district’s new policy Banning smartphones during the school day.
It soon became clear that the parents were not being asked whether They support the cellphone ban – Board of Education The proposal passed in June—but how to best implement it when it comes into effect in January. This realization prompted one father to whine, “This whole meeting was stupid and pointless.”
It is true that the district administration could have explained the purpose of the meeting better, but it was valuable to hear from parents, especially those who are also teachers, who lamented the stress and distraction caused by restrictions on mobile phone use in classrooms.
“They’re not wrong that we didn’t get their input,” L.A. Unified board member Nick Melvoin told me bluntly this week. Melvoin, a former teacher, led the proposal. “This is a policy that’s in the best interest of kids and teachers. Every school that does this says, ‘I wish we had done this sooner.’”
While there was general consensus that the ban was a positive move, I was surprised by how many parents strongly opposed it.
Negative responses ranged from “My child needs her phone at all times to control her anxiety” to, basically, “Even over my dead body.” One parent said they don’t care. What Whatever rule the district administration implemented, she and her child did not agree with it.
Sadly, and as expected, many parents were concerned about school shootings and the need for children to let their parents know they were safe. But honestly, phones don’t make people safer.
In any case, Melvoin said, in an emergency “it’s safer for everybody if kids aren’t texting and adults are doing their own thing. Part of that is trying to change the culture around our phone addiction. We want to be in touch with our kids all the time, but you shouldn’t. They have to develop some level of independence, and even vibrations in your pocket or book bag can distract you.”
The good news is that LA Unified isn’t alone. Many private schools already have phone bans, and some states have adopted a no-phone policy.
In August, the California Legislature passed a bill Requirements for school districts Developing Policies Limiting smartphone use by July 2026.
“Quite frankly, school boards need to be pushed to move in this direction,” said Democratic state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), a co-author of the bill. “There are always reasons to procrastinate, but the data shows that phones impair learning, lower scores, increase depression, lead to physical fights, lower attention spans, decrease learning ability. We need to move the culture to a place where this is not acceptable.”
And I would also like to say that this problem extends beyond the classroom.
Whenever they’re not in class, kids are on their phones at school, ignoring each other and engaging in texting, Snapping, and other things that distract them from face-to-face interactions.
Then how to keep children away from the phone?
Some schools collect phones in the morning using phone lockers, while others provide magnetic pouches that stay in kids’ possession but can only be unlocked upon exiting school or by teachers and administrators. At a large school like Venice High, the pouches make the most sense, Melvoin said. A pouch for each student would cost the district about $6 million, a shortfall in its $15 billion annual budget, according to Melvoin. “The return on this investment would be huge.”
A pioneer in the phone pouch space, 10-year-old Mar Vista-based company Yondr first created them to free live performers from the distracting, constant use of mobile phones in the audience. Many artists have adopted this practice. Singers such as Alicia Keys, Guns N Roses, The Lumineers, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock have been accused of turning off mobile phones.
Then teachers started contacting the company, its director, Sarah Leader, told me. Now the pouches are being used in thousands of schools in 50 states and 27 countries. The company estimates that more than 2 million students will use them by the end of this year, double that number by the end of 2023.
“We’re not taking anything away,” Leader said. “We’re giving kids access to a phone-free education.” Yonder works with schools to train staff, and make sure kids and their parents understand how and why a phone-free day can improve the school experience.
It turns out that keeping kids away from their phones has a number of unexpected benefits. Leader said schools that use the pouches have seen more meals eaten in their cafeterias, “because kids feel better about eating when they’re not being recorded.” He said some schools reported taking more books from the library.
Banning mobile phones in schools will not solve all the problems caused by technology that has gotten out of control.
But wouldn’t you agree that it’s a great first step?
