As the school year kicks off across the United States, a noticeable shift is underway in classrooms from coast to coast: more students than ever are returning to school without their cell phones. This fall, Texas has become the latest—and one of the largest—states to enforce a comprehensive ban on cell phone use for all public and charter school students during school hours, joining a growing national movement that’s reshaping the daily rhythm of American education.
According to Education Week, a total of 31 states and the District of Columbia now have restrictions on student cell phone usage in schools as of September 2025. The push for phone-free learning environments is one of the rare issues enjoying significant bipartisan support, with policymakers and educators across the political spectrum agreeing that something needed to change. The rapid adoption of these policies has been driven by concerns about distractions, social anxiety, and the negative impact of constant connectivity on student learning and well-being.
Brigette Whaley, an associate professor of education at West Texas A&M University, has closely tracked the effects of such bans. "A more equitable environment" is what she expects to see in classrooms as a result of the new restrictions, along with higher student engagement. Whaley’s optimism isn’t just theoretical: her research at a West Texas high school last year, where a cell phone ban was piloted, found that teachers reported a notable uptick in classroom participation and a marked drop in student anxiety.
“They could relax in the classroom and participate,” Whaley told NPR. “And not be so anxious about what other students were doing.” The anxiety, it turns out, wasn’t just about missing out on social media updates—it was about the fear of being filmed or embarrassed by peers, a concern that vanished once phones were out of the picture. The findings in West Texas echo results from other districts and states: students learn better in a phone-free environment.
Despite the widespread support among educators, the rollout of these policies hasn’t been entirely smooth. Enforcement can be inconsistent, as seen in Portland, Oregon. At Lincoln High School, social studies teacher Alex Stegner described the challenges of the previous school year, when the policy required teachers to collect phones at the start of each class. “Some teachers left the boxes open, others closed them but did not lock them. And I, along with some of my colleagues, locked the phones up: I was committed to kind of going all in with it and I liked it,” Stegner recounted to NPR. For him, it was the first year in a decade he didn’t spend class time “chasing cell phones around the room.”
This year, Lincoln High is taking things a step further. Instead of collecting phones at the start of each class, the policy now requires students to lock their devices away for the entire school day using Yondr pouches—special locking bags designed to keep phones secure and inaccessible. The shift is expected to be a learning curve for everyone involved, including parents, many of whom have expressed anxiety about not being able to reach their children during the day. Stegner, however, is optimistic: “I do think that there seems to be this kind of collective understanding that we’ve got to do something different.” He expects parents will become more comfortable with the policy as the year progresses.
The move to phone-free schools does come with a price tag. Yondr pouches cost about $30 each, and for a school like Lincoln High with more than 1,500 students, that adds up quickly. The financial burden isn’t unique to Oregon. In Delaware, a pilot program for cell phone bans is supported by a $250,000 budget to help schools make the transition. Rosalie Morales, who oversees the program, noted that while 83% of teachers are on board with the restrictions, only 11% of students favor them, according to initial surveys. “The response from teachers is definitely supportive,” Morales said. “You’ll see a different response from students.” She remains hopeful that student attitudes will shift as they begin to experience the benefits firsthand.
Not all students are convinced, however. Zoë George, a student at Bard High School Early College in New York City, finds the ban “annoying,” especially as she embarks on her final year of high school. “I wish that they would hear us out more,” George told NPR. She worries about the implications for homework and schoolwork during free periods, noting that students often use their phones to get work done. Her school typically allows students to leave campus for lunch, but with a bell-to-bell cell phone policy, that freedom is curtailed. “It’s not the worst because it’s my last year,” she said. “But at the same time it’s my last year.” George is also disappointed that she won’t be able to take pictures and videos of her friends throughout the day, feeling as though she’ll miss out on memories she cherished from previous years. She’s looking forward to the freedom she expects to have in college next year.
For many students, the ban represents a major shift in the way they experience school life. The desire to stay connected, capture memories, and access resources on their phones is strong, especially as they prepare for life beyond high school. The challenge for schools is to strike a balance between creating focused, distraction-free learning environments and respecting students’ desires for connectivity and expression.
Meanwhile, the debate over enforcement continues. In some schools, like those studied by Whaley and Stegner, teacher buy-in is high, but inconsistent application can undermine the effectiveness of the policy. In others, the financial and logistical hurdles of providing secure storage for devices are significant, especially in large schools with thousands of students. The cost of Yondr pouches alone can be a major line item in school budgets, prompting some states to allocate special funding to support the transition.
Despite these challenges, the momentum behind phone-free schools shows no signs of slowing. With bipartisan political support, positive feedback from educators, and growing research pointing to the benefits for student engagement and well-being, more states are likely to follow Texas’s lead in the coming years. The hope among proponents is that as students adjust and begin to see the upside—less anxiety, more focus, and a more equitable classroom environment—resistance will fade, and the policy will become a new norm in American education.
For now, as students and teachers navigate the early days of the 2025-26 school year, the conversation continues. Will phone-free schools deliver on their promise of better learning and less stress? Or will the pushback from students and parents lead to further adjustments down the road? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain: the landscape of American classrooms is changing, one locked phone at a time.
