Bell-to-bell cellphone bans are spreading rapidly, rising from 60% to 74% of schools in just one year, according to a new national survey.
Teachers report students are talking more face-to-face and using phones less during class time.
But educators say laptops — not phones — are emerging as the next major classroom distraction.
More schools are cracking down on cellphones in the classroom and one organization says it’s paying off. A new national survey suggests that stricter cellphone policies in schools are reshaping student behavior both inside and outside the classroom.
The data, released by Phones in Focus, a nonpartisan research initiative studying the impact of school phone policies, show a sharp increase in so-called “bell-to-bell” bans, which prohibit students from using cellphones throughout the entire school day.
In the 2024–25 school year, 60% of surveyed schools reported having such bans. That figure climbed to 74% in 2025–26 — one of the fastest school policy shifts in recent years.
The findings are based on more than 68,000 responses from educators representing roughly 17% of U.S. public schools, making it the largest teacher survey ever conducted on school phone policies.
“We’re seeing meaningful patterns emerge in our data that reflect the national conversation around phones in schools,” said Angela Duckworth, psychologist and one of the lead investigators of Phones in Focus. “For example, teachers are seeing students talk in hallways face-to-face and engage in the kind of social learning that can’t happen through a screen.”
Social ripple effects
While cellphone bans are often framed as academic interventions, many teachers report that the biggest changes are social.
In open-ended responses, educators described livelier lunchrooms and more in-person interaction among students. One teacher wrote that it was “nice to see students interacting [and] socializing with each other face to face. It makes the lunchroom louder.” Another reported fewer discipline problems tied to phones and greater classroom engagement, adding that students “are learning to socialize again.”
The survey also found that stricter policies are far more common in elementary and middle schools. About nine in 10 schools serving younger grades report bell-to-bell bans. In contrast, only about half of high schools have adopted such policies, making them significantly more permissive.
The policy momentum mirrors broader legislative action. According to Education Week, at least 34 states and the District of Columbia now require districts to ban or limit student cellphone use in schools.
A new distraction emerges
Even as cellphone restrictions expand, the survey points to another growing concern: laptops.
On average, teachers estimate that about one-third of students use school-issued or personal laptops for non-academic purposes, such as texting or browsing social media, during class.
“Notably, this number doesn’t seem to depend on the school cellphone policy,” Duckworth said. “I predict more districts and schools will begin debating how and when students are permitted to use laptops in the classroom.”
The finding suggests that while cellphone bans may reduce one source of distraction, digital multitasking remains an ongoing challenge in technology-rich classrooms.
Researchers say these results represent an interim snapshot of a rapidly evolving policy landscape. The team plans to follow up with longitudinal analyses examining objective outcomes such as attendance rates and test scores to better understand the long-term academic impact of phone restrictions.