(AP) – Jamel Bishop is seeing a big change in his classrooms as he begins his senior year at Doss High School in Louisville, Kentucky, where cellphones are now banned during instructional time.<\/p>\n
In previous years, students often weren\u2019t paying attention and wasted class time by repeating questions, the teenager said. Now, teachers can provide \u201cmore one-on-one time for the students who actually need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kentucky is one of 17 states and the District of Columbia starting this school year with new restrictions, bringing the total to 35 states with laws or rules limiting phones and other electronic devices in school. This change has come remarkably quickly: Florida became the first state<\/a> to pass such a law in 2023.<\/p>\n Both Democrats and Republicans<\/a> have taken up the cause, reflecting a growing consensus<\/a> that phones are bad for kids\u2019 mental health and take their focus away from learning, even as some researchers say the issue is less clear-cut.<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime you have a bill that\u2019s passed in California and Florida, you know you\u2019re probably onto something that\u2019s pretty popular,\u201d Georgia state Rep. Scott Hilton, a Republican, told a forum on cellphone use last week in Atlanta.<\/p>\n Phones are banned throughout the school day in 18 of the states and the District of Columbia, although Georgia and Florida impose such \u201cbell-to-bell\u201d bans only from kindergarten through eighth grade. Another seven states ban them during class time, but not between classes or during lunch. Still others, particularly those with traditions of local school control, mandate only a cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access.<\/p>\n Students see pros and cons<\/p>\n For students, the rules add new school-day rituals, like putting phones in magnetic pouches or special lockers.<\/p>\n Students have been locking up their phones during class at McNair High School in suburban Atlanta since last year. Audreanna Johnson, a junior, said \u201cmost of them did not want to turn in their phones\u201d at first, because students would use them to gossip, texting \u201ctheir other friends in other classes to see what\u2019s the tea and what\u2019s going on around the building.\u201d<\/p>\n That resentment is \u201cstarting to ease down\u201d now, she said. \u201cMore students are willing to give up their phones and not get distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n But there are drawbacks \u2014 like not being able to listen to music when working independently in class. \u201cI\u2019m kind of 50-50 on the situation because me, I use headphones to do my schoolwork. I listen to music to help focus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some parents want constant contact<\/p>\n In a survey of 125 Georgia school districts by Emory University researchers, parental resistance was cited as the top obstacle to regulating student use of social and digital media.<\/p>\n