Dive Brief:
- A majority of Americans support banning cellphones the entire school day, marking a record high since the poll began in 2024 according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June and released Wednesday.
- While 48% support bell-to-bell cellphone bans for middle and high school students this year — up 12 percentage points from 2024 — 43% still oppose the idea. The remaining 8% are unsure.
- Support for in-class cellphone bans also continued to rise for the second year in a row, with 77% of adults supporting such policies. That's up from 74% last year and 68% in 2024.
Dive Insight:
Young adults ages 18-29 were the least likely to support all-day school cellphone bans, at just 28%. That age group, however, was much more likely to support cellular device bans in class, at 57%.
A survey released in January, also by Pew Research Center, showed that most teens oppose even classroom cellphone bans, with only 41% in support.
Meanwhile, at least half of Americans 30 or older back all-day bans, the survey released Wednesday showed.
The rise in support for cellphone bans among adults comes as more states have adopted such measures to varying degrees.
Thirty-five states ban or limit cellphones in classrooms, according to Ballotpedia. Some are considering or already have adopted statewide bell-to-bell bans, such as New York’s policy implemented in 2025.
Adoption and implementation of bans also often varies by district, with more considering limits on screen time more broadly for younger students as well.
The Los Angeles Unified School District last month, for example, became one of the largest districts to unanimously approve a policy that would prohibit students in early education, kindergarten and 1st grade from using screens in school.
A study released in April by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that school cellphone bans improved middle and high school discipline rates over time, but that impacts on academic achievement were limited in the three years following cellphone bans. The study specifically looked at schools that used Yondr, a provider of lockable phone pouches.
The same study also found that requiring students to keep their cellphones in lockable pouches during the school day led to an uptick in suspension rates and a decrease in student well-being in the first year the cellphone policies were implemented. Those negative impacts disappeared in later years, however.
Cellphone bans have previously been met with resistance from parents, as 78% of surveyed parents told the National Parents Union in 2024 that they want their children to have cellphone access for emergencies. Nearly 60% said students should have cellphone access so parents can get in touch with their children and locate them, and 48% said contact is needed to coordinate transportation.
