Statewide cellphone ban 1 year later

When New York State’s cellphone ban went into effect last September, it was met with a mixture of enthusiasm, skepticism and even some opposition. Now, a year later, doubts have subsided and something else has taken their place, according to teachers: Classrooms that feel alive again.

Educators across the city report more student focus and attention, more collaboration, better relationships, and kids who’ve rediscovered how to think for themselves. Their experiences answer a question being asked in school districts around the country: Does taking phones out of the classroom help kids become better learners? The answer is undoubtedly “Yes.”

Students are more present and less distracted

Prior to the ban, a phone buzzing in a pocket or bag would divert attention away from class activities, even when it was hidden. But since the ban, teachers describe a transformation: Eyes stay up, minds remain in the room and struggles between lessons and phones have faded away.

Tiffany Roy’s school, MS 581 in Brooklyn, where she is the chapter leader, a school counselor and a former classroom teacher, has had a phone ban in place for several years with positive results. “Students remain more focused,” she said, and school has become a haven from worrying about what’s happening on social media.

Nicole Keaster is the chapter leader and an English teacher at IS 5 in Queens, where they started a ban in May 2024. It has been so successful that now cellphones are “a non-issue,” Keaster said. Before, students would receive alerts and vibrations on their phones and then ask to leave class to reply. Now, “kids recognize that it’s a relief not to worry about these things during the school day,” she said.

Not having phones in school “allows students to be present in their learning,” said Carmen Romero Lee, the chapter leader and a social studies teacher at MS 177 in Manhattan. Without constant distractions, the classroom has become “a sanctuary for deep focus and real human connection,” she said.

Greater collaboration and project work

Group work and classroom discussions no longer compete for a student’s attention with a phone, and teachers say students are more likely to be fully present, successfully dividing labor rather than half-participating while glancing at a device.

Shawn Fisch, a UFT Teacher Center coach and a social studies, English as a new language and English teacher at Long Island City HS in Queens, “saw a real transformation in the way the kids interacted” after his school instituted a cellphone ban in 2024. “Reading out loud, commenting on each other’s questions, and working together on projects works better because they’re all part of the process,” said Fisch.

Students are picking up negotiating skills and displaying greater accountability with group work, as well, said Fisch, explaining that students are better at the concept of “‘OK, I’ll do this one, and you do this one.’” They also have returned to classroom protocols like “learning how to turn and talk again, learning how to have social conversations, learning how to ask questions,” he said.

Romero Lee noted that since the ban, students engage in “stronger academic discourse with their peers.” She described active student participation during a recent Socratic seminar. “That kind of sustained focus where a classroom of middle schoolers is genuinely locked into a conversation with one another for 45 minutes simply doesn’t happen when a cellphone is pulling at their attention,” she said.

Kinder and better interpersonal relationships

Fisch, who started teaching before cellphones, has witnessed more positive social behavior. “Manners came back. Eye contact came back,” he said. Students “seem more conversational — asking ‘What did you do this weekend?’ or, ‘Did you finish that project?’” he said.

Students are also learning “appropriate and professional ways to disagree and engage” with one another, said Fisch, who says students have become kinder and “more kid-like,” he said. “There’s now an investment in the people who are their classmates.”

Boosts in interpersonal skills have real-world implications, said Keaster, especially in students’ ability to recognize nonverbal cues.

“When they’re going on a job interview, they need to know how to interact and be aware of their facial expressions,” which, if interpreted negatively, can lead to lost opportunities.

The improvement seen in student relationships also has measurable results in the classroom. Discipline issues are down, educators say.

“The ban has decreased our suspension rate,” said Roy, adding that not only is there less in-person and school bullying, there is less bullying happening online. “Students are more respectful,” she said.

More instructional time, fewer power struggles

In the past, phone confiscation and policy enforcement meant daily battles for teachers and conflicts with students. UFT advocacy to have the current ban implemented in a way that would not make educators responsible for enforcement also has been a game-changer.

The current ban “takes it out of the teacher’s hands where there’s no power struggle” between teachers and students, said Keaster. The new statewide policies are just “part of the routine,” she said, and allow “more time for instruction, more time for conversation.”

“The ban “removes the burden from teachers to monitor behavior around phone usage and sets a clear standard for learning environments,” Romero Lee said. Now, “our energy is spent on teaching, scaffolding information and texts, and relaying critical thinking.”

Clearly, the cellphone ban is a vibe shift. Schools are becoming places where kids can truly be kids again.

“By keeping social media and algorithms out of the school day,” Romero Lee said, students have “a nurturing space to grow, make mistakes, build relationships and learn.”