Smartphone use during school is extensive. Students spend an average of 1.5 hours on their phones during the school day — accounting for 27% of their total daily phone use.
Smartphone apps are seeking students' attention hundreds of times a day. On a typical day, the average students gets 200+ notifications. Of those, about a quarter occur during school. Some students receive as many as 4,500.
Even when turned off, phones hurt learning. The mere presence of a smartphone — even stowed away in a backpack — reduces available cognitive capacity.
Classroom safety is at risk. School safety experts say phones disrupt communication, spread misinformation, and create chaos during emergencies.
Teachers overwhelmingly support stricter policies, because current policies aren't working. U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in their classrooms; 83% of them support phone-free schools.
Phone use can encourage harmful, anti-social behavior. Students have used phones to organize fights, record them, and post them online during school hours.
“Probably the saddest, most disturbing phone use is when I see students videotaping a fight instead of getting help.”