It's Time for Schools to Ban Smartphones

The Washington Post editorial board has a controversial wish for 2024: It wants education officials to prohibit students from bringing smartphones to school. What's more, the board argues that "parents should welcome and support" such a ban. Individual districts around the country already have restrictions in place to some degree—requiring students to place their phones in locked pouches before class, or to keep them tucked away in backpacks or lockers, for example. Many schools tell students not to use their phones for "nonacademic" purposes, but enforcement is all but impossible. The truth is, in "educational settings, smartphones have an almost entirely negative impact," asserts the editorial. "Educators and students alike note they can fuel cyberbullying and stifle meaningful in-person interaction."

Some parents say in an age of school shootings, they would never want their children to be without their phones. The point is valid, but "it's safer for students to focus on their surroundings during a crisis, not devices," per the editorial. As for minor concerns such as arranging pickups or delivering missed assignments, the editorial says students and parents should figure it out sans phones, as generations have done before them. The editorial also cites research showing the negative effects of phones on learning. "In the face of today's evidence, one could plausibly argue that children shouldn't have access to smartphones at all," the editors write. "But at least keeping the devices out of schools? It's an idea whose time has come." Read the full editorial. (More smartphones stories.)