Across the pond, over 90% of all schools in England have banned mobile phones from schools, according to a new national survey ordered by children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza. More specifically, the survey of more than 15,000 schools determined that 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondaries have implemented some form of phone ban.
“As part of our plan for change, we will continue to ramp up monitoring and make sure every school, and every classroom, is phone-free, giving our children the best education,” Bridget Phillipson, England’s education secretary, told The Guardian.
These bans unfold in several different ways: some teachers require their students to turn in their phones, while others prohibit these devices from being brought to school in the first place. The vast majority of secondary schools, however, allow students to keep their phones on their person, but have implemented policies that ban their use or display during lessons.
“If we are serious about helping children reap the many benefits of the Internet, we need to get serious about regulating what they can see, where they can see it, and curbing the damage currently being wreaked on their health, attention span, and safety by tech companies,” de Souza said.
The survey complements existing evidence concerning smartphone use and its adverse impact on mental health, attention, and overall well-being in children, teenagers, and young adults. Last year, two studies conducted by King’s College London identified links between “problematic smartphone use (PSU)” and depression, anxiety, and insomnia, where 16- to 18-year-olds who reported PSU were twice as likely to experience anxiety and almost three times as likely to experience depression compared to those that didn’t report PSU. The studies also revealed that one in eight young people want help in reducing their smartphone use.
What better place to minimize this use than in school? In 2024, the Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs 44 state schools in England, began phasing out access to phones, a policy that intends to enhance concentration and retention during lessons.
“Learning can’t happen without attention,” Tom Rees, Ormiston’s chief executive, told The Guardian in an interview last fall. “There’s evidence that tells us that even if your phone is in the same room, it could be in your bag or pocket, your brain is leaking attention. That is impacting young people’s ability to learn, to retain information, to concentrate, to focus.”
These sorts of policies aren’t just widespread in the U.K. and Europe. In the U.S., many states are considering similar phone bans in schools, regardless of political affiliation. At least eight states so far have enacted such bans over the past two years, a bipartisan trend that addresses a 2023 Pew Research Center survey that found 72% of high school teachers felt phone usage was a “major problem.” Most recently, New York joined the national movement toward a “bell-to-bell” ban, which will apply to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“We’re protecting [students] from addictive technology designed to hijack their attention,” Kathy Hochul, New York State’s governor, said in a statement on April 28, 2025. “Cellphones have dragged too many of our kids into dark places.”
Some parents have raised concerns about these restrictions, claiming that they need to be able to contact their children directly in case of an emergency, especially amid recent school shootings. Regardless, these phone bans offer an antidote against the worrying statistics related to children’s attention and health, even as policymakers continue to refine the specifics of such regulations.
A recent nationwide survey found that over 90% of schools in England have implemented some form of mobile phone ban for its students.
The survey complements an international movement toward phone bans in schools, with policymakers, teachers, and researchers citing decreased attention and well-being due to phones and social media.
Sources: Teens with problematic smartphone use are twice as likely to have anxiety – and many are eager to cut down; Academy chain with 35,000 pupils to be first in England to go phone-free; 72% of U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom; Banning cellphones in schools gains popularity in red and blue states; More than 90% of schools in England ban mobile phone use, survey shows; Map Shows Which States Have School Cellphone Bans
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