January 1st is doomsday. The one thing students never wanted to happen, is happening. Next month, all schools in Ohio will implement the state law that bans students’ use of cell phones during the entire school day. Earlier this year, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine passed the bill to hopefully increase student learning. While most teachers approve of the cell phone ban, most students are obviously not in favor.
“We need to be sure that our classrooms, frankly, are now cellphone free,” DeWine said.
In an article published by the Ohio Capital Journal, Dewine suggested that notifications on students’ phone interupt their learning.
“We all know that screen time is very, very addictive. Just having a phone nearby means students are receiving constant notifications all day long,” said DeWine.
Ohio is one of at least fifteen states that have a law that bans the use of cell phones in schools. According to the Statehouse News Bureau the majority of Ohioans are in favor of the state ban for instructional time only, not the entire school day.
“A Pew Research Center poll last fall showed 68% of Americans support a ban on cell phone usage in class, but around half that—36%—approve of all-day school bans on cell phones” (Ingles).
Furthermore, a 2024 Pew Research study found that “72% of U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in classrooms. Students receive nearly 200 alerts per day on their cellphones” (Ohio Capital Journal). DeWine was also quoted as saying that he believes these alerts make it impossible for students to learn (Ohio Capital Journal).
Lancaster High School science teacher Amanda Thompson is all for the ban.
“The phone ban is not only a district policy but a statewide policy. This policy came about as numerous research has suggested that even when students don’t check their phones, the presence of a phone is a distraction. So yes, I believe that a phone ban, especially during instructional periods, is an important thing to enforce,” said Thompson.
Thompson said that she thinks that LHS students have adjusted very well to the partial phone policy that was implemented earlier in the fall and said that cutting out the phones will cause less distraction for students.
“I do think this policy benefits the students, even though they don’t like it. As research shows, phones are a distraction, so if we can cut down on the amount of distractions that are happening in class for each student, then hopefully we can help them learn better and have more engagement from the students during class,” said Thompson.
LHS freshman Kyler Nagle is on the fence about any cell phone ban for students.
“The phone ban is a double-edged sword. On one hand it does benefit students by limiting their access to phones during class time it can improve focus, but on the other hand a full ban on phones even in lunch and study halls doesn’t benefit students at all. It only makes the students have less to do during those periods,” said Nagle.
LHS junior Taylor Randolph is completely against the ban. She hasn’t seen any difference between last year’s phone policy and this year’s policy.
“The only difference I’ve noticed has been students complaining. Teachers will still allow it secretly, kids will still sneak. There’s no point,” said Randolph.
Randolph said that she believes a full cell phone ban for students will cause more challenges for them.
“People will still be on their phones. In fact, if anything, I’ve seen more people trying to find ways to evade it than actually following it. The ban is counter intuitive – trying to tell people they can’t do something only prompts them to do it more,” said Randolph.
Just prior to the winter break, Lancaster City Schools Superintendent Nathan Hale is expected to make an official announcement on the full cell phone ban December 12th. Information reportedly will be communicated to all students, staff, and parents through ParentSquare and social media.
