Should Phones be Banned in Schools?

By: Craig McPherson

Everyone keeps asking the same question about phones in school: “Should we ban them or not?” Honestly, I think that’s the wrong question. The real issue isn’t whether phones are allowed in the building; it’s whether anyone is ever going to teach us how to live with them like actual responsible humans instead of pretend robots who can just “turn it off and focus.”

Most schools seem to handle phones in two ways. Option one: total lockdown. No phones in class, no phones in the hallway, sometimes not even at lunch. Get caught, and your phone gets taken, maybe your parents have to come in and pick it up like you’re in kindergarten. Option two: chaos. Teachers give up enforcing any rules because it’s exhausting, so half the class is on TikTok under the desk while the other half pretends to take notes. Neither of these options feels like preparation for real life.

Because in real life, no one is going to stand over you at a job and say, “Put your phone in the pouch or I’m calling your mom.” And no one is going to say, “Sure, scroll all you want during the meeting, I give up.” You’re expected to balance things on your own. You’re supposed to answer messages, check notifications, and still pay attention, get work done, and think clearly. If school is supposed to prepare us for anything, shouldn’t this be part of what we learn?

The usual argument for strict bans is that phones are a distraction. And they are. No one is denying that. A notification can pull your brain out of a math problem faster than anything. But distraction is not a new problem. People passed notes, doodled, stared out the window, and daydreamed long before smartphones existed. The difference now is that instead of treating this new distraction as something we have to understand and manage, we treat the device itself like the enemy, as if locking it away magically fixes our attention span.

The truth is, many of us already know that phones are messing with our focus, sleep, and mood. People talk about doomscrolling, notifications, and feeling empty after an hour of mindless scrolling. But hardly anyone shows us what to do about it beyond “just use it less.” Imagine if that was the approach in any other class. “Math is hard? Just don’t do it.” “Writing is confusing? Just stop.” It wouldn’t make sense. Yet that’s exactly what happens with phones: no real education, just rules.

What would it look like if schools did this differently? For starters, there could be actual lessons—not cheesy assemblies, but real, honest discussions—about how apps are designed to keep us hooked. Not in a “phones are evil” way, but in a “here’s how your brain works and here’s how the apps take advantage of it” way. Once you understand that, it’s easier to see why you feel that phantom pull to check your phone every ten minutes.

Schools could also experiment with controlled phone use instead of all-or-nothing rules. For example, some days where phones stay in bags, and other days where you’re allowed to use them as tools: taking photos of notes, using calendar apps to plan assignments, or doing quick research. Teachers could show how to set up focus modes, turn off certain notifications, or set app limits. That might sound small, but those are the kinds of habits that actually carry into adult life.

There’s also a trust issue. When schools act like students are incapable of handling phones at all, the message underneath is, “We don’t trust you.” That makes it harder to feel like a partner in your own education. But if schools say, “We know these devices are part of your life, and we’re going to help you learn to handle them,” it feels different. It treats students like people who are learning how to manage themselves, not problems that need to be controlled.

Of course, there’s a limit. There will always be people who push boundaries, sneak their phones, and use them in ways that are obviously not okay. There should be consequences for that. But consequences work better when they’re part of a system that actually teaches something, not just punishes. Right now, a lot of schools skip the teaching part entirely.

The irony is that schools spend so much time preparing us for tests, college, and careers, but barely touch on one of the biggest things shaping our minds every single day. Phones aren’t going away. Apps aren’t suddenly going to redesign themselves to be less addictive out of kindness. If adults really want us to be ready for the world, they can’t just say “no phones.” They have to help us learn how to say “no” ourselves, or at least “not right now.”

So, should phones be banned in school? My answer is: that’s too easy. Instead of trying to erase them from the school day, we should be learning how to live with them, intelligently and intentionally. That might be harder than just writing a rule in the handbook, but it’s also a lot more honest—and a lot closer to the world we’re actually stepping into.