The Effect of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches

• In Event: No Cells for You: The Impacts of Cellphone Bans on Student Outcomes in the U.S.

Abstract

Schools across the U.S. have sharply restricted student use of phones during the schoolday. The theory of action behind cell phone bans suggest that banning cellphone use in school will increase focus and attention to core education material and improve students’ socioemotional and mental health. These policies may also limit teacher distractions and lead to more focused instructional time. Cellphone bans have been mentioned in national news sources, such as the New York Times, National Public Radio, and the Washington Post, as well as local statehouses, newspapers, school committees, and parents. Driven by changes in technology use after the COVID-19 pandemic, these state-, district-, and school-level bans take many forms. Some juristictions ban cellphone use on school grounds completely, some ban use during core instructional time, others ban use from the starting bell to the ending bell.

We evaluate one type of restriction—lockable phone pouches—using nationwide data combining large-scale surveys, GPS pings, standardized test scores, and school administrative records, along with sales records from the largest pouch provider. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that pouch adoption substantially reduces phone use as measured by GPS pings and teacher reports. In the first year after adoption, disciplinary incidents increase and student subjective well-being falls, consistent with short-term disruption. However, effects on well-being become positive in later years and disciplinary effects fade. For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero. High schools see modest positive effects, particularly in math, while middle schools see small negative effects. We find little evidence of effects on school attendance, self-reported classroom attention, or perceived online bullying.

Findings can be used to inform how cellphone bans are implemented in schools across the country and validate their implementation. The study also provides insight for practitioners implementing these bans in different school settings and grade level coverage.

Author

• Tom Dee, Stanford University
  Presenting Author