Categories: News

School phone ban one year on: our student survey reveals mixed feelings about its success

How effective has the school phone ban been in achieving its aims? Researchers from the University of Canterbury ask students.

<div class&equals;"theconversation-article-body">&NewLine;<h2>One year after the government <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;rnz&period;co&period;nz&sol;news&sol;political&sol;515550&sol;school-cellphone-ban-what-you-need-to-know" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">banned cellphones from schools<&sol;a> to help students focus and reduce distractions in class&comma; we’re beginning to see how it has been implemented and how successful it’s been&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>As part of that process&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;internetnz&period;nz&sol;assets&sol;Archives&sol;GR000132022&lowbar;23-Dr-Cara-Swit-final-report&period;pdf" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">our new research<&sol;a> asked young people about the ban&period; Unsurprisingly&comma; they had a lot to say&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Schools around the world&comma; including in Australia&comma; France&comma; the United Kingdom&comma; Italy&comma; China and parts of the United States&comma; have implemented similar bans&period; The guiding principle everywhere has been to help students do better in school&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nzherald&period;co&period;nz&sol;nz&sol;the-governments-official-school-cellphone-ban-has-started-heres-what-you-need-to-know&sol;UBNY32DGYJHLBPHNZPSG3KQEFE&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">New Zealand’s ban came into effect in April 2024<&sol;a>&comma; Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was time to cut the distractions so kids could learn and achieve&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But studies have shown these bans often don’t work as planned&period; For example&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theguardian&period;com&sol;education&sol;2025&sol;feb&sol;05&sol;school-ban-phones-not-improve-grades-health-uk-study" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">recent research from the UK<&sol;a> involving over 1&comma;200 students found no significant difference in academic grades or wellbeing between schools with strict phone bans and those with more relaxed policies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With so many questions at the time of the ban about how it would be enforced&comma; we wanted to hear what was going on in schools and what young people really thought&period; We spoke to 77 young people aged 12 to 18 from 25 schools around the country&period; Some liked the bans&comma; some didn’t and some weren’t sure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;27492" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-27492" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-27492" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;08&sol;AdobeStock&lowbar;168789627-300x200&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-27492" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Evidence on the efficacy of phone bans is mixed&comma; and so are students&&num;8217&semi; feelings&period;© nenetus- stock&period;adobe&period;com&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h2>Mixed feelings<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Many students had mixed feelings about the bans&period; Some admitted the bans helped reduce distractions and gave them a break from using their phones&period; As one explained&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>otherwise&comma; we’ll be on our phone all day&comma; all afternoon&comma; all night&comma; and it won’t be healthy for our minds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>But other students said the ban had created new problems&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>First&comma; some students felt stressed and anxious when they couldn’t contact their parents or caregivers during the day&period; Second&comma; they said the rules weren’t always clear or fair&period; Some teachers were strict&comma; others weren’t&period; And sometimes&comma; teachers used their phones in class&comma; but students couldn’t&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That perceived double standard – where teachers can use phones but students can’t – left many of our respondents feeling frustrated and unfairly treated&period; In some cases&comma; it even made them more secretive about their phone use&period; One student said&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Even though we’re not allowed to use our phones&comma; everyone is sneaky and uses it anyway&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"align-center "><figcaption><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h2>A lack of consultation<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>A lot of students said they weren’t asked what they thought before the bans were introduced&period; They felt as if adults made the rules without asking them or listening to them&period; One of our interviewees said&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>It feels like they just ban everything&comma; thinking it will fix the problem&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Many didn’t understand the purpose of the ban&comma; especially since they still have to use laptops and other technology in class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;27491" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-27491" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-27491" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;08&sol;AdobeStock&lowbar;52158140-300x200&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-27491" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Many students are finding ways around the phone bans&period; ©Monkey Business &&num;8211&semi; stock&period;adobe&period;com<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Recent research found more than 80&percnt; of students in Aotearoa New Zealand say <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;auckland&period;ac&period;nz&sol;en&sol;news&sol;2025&sol;01&sol;29&sol;device-use-in-schools&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">technology in class is distracting – not just phones<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Already&comma; some students have found clever ways around the phone ban&period; At one Auckland school&comma; students started using <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nzherald&period;co&period;nz&sol;nz&sol;national-school-cellphone-ban-auckland-students-find-walkie-talkie-loophole&sol;UZHM2MM2XRBI5PVSJV6CNLNJF4&sol;&num;google&lowbar;vignette" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">walkie-talkies instead of phones to stay connected with their peers<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Examples like this show bans don’t always change behaviour the way they’re intended to&period; It can simply make students feel as though adults underestimate how tech-savvy they really are&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Young people as active problem solvers<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The young people in our research offered some alternatives to the ban&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many suggested allowing phones at break and lunch times&period; That way&comma; they could stay connected without interrupting class&period; They also said adults needed to model healthy digital habits&comma; not just set the rules&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Based on student responses&comma; it does appear that learning and teaching how to use phones in healthy ways would be more helpful than banning them altogether&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;digitalwellnesslab&period;org&sol;articles&sol;striking-a-balance-cell-phone-culture-in-schools&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Research from the Digital Wellness Lab<&sol;a> supports this balanced approach&comma; emphasising skill building over restriction&period; But for this to work&comma; adults need support too&period; Teachers and parents need training and resources to help guide young people – and should also be surveyed on how they feel about the ban&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Banning phones doesn’t fix the bigger issue of helping young people to use technology safely and responsibly&period; If schools really want to support students&comma; they need to move beyond one-size-fits-all rules&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Our research shows young people aren’t just passive users of technology&period; They’re active problem solvers&period; They want to be part of the conversation – and part of the solution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This would involve replacing top-down bans with meaningful conversations involving young people and adults to build fair and practical digital guidelines&comma; where everyone benefits&period;<&excl;-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag&period; Please DO NOT REMOVE&period; --><img style&equals;"border&colon; none &excl;important&semi; box-shadow&colon; none &excl;important&semi; margin&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; max-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; max-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-height&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; min-width&colon; 1px &excl;important&semi; opacity&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi; outline&colon; none &excl;important&semi; padding&colon; 0 &excl;important&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;counter&period;theconversation&period;com&sol;content&sol;252179&sol;count&period;gif&quest;distributor&equals;republish-lightbox-basic" alt&equals;"The Conversation" width&equals;"1" height&equals;"1" &sol;><&excl;-- End of code&period; If you don't see any code above&comma; please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button&period; The page counter does not collect any personal data&period; More info&colon; https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;republishing-guidelines --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;cara-swit-309795" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Cara Swit<&sol;a>&comma; Associate professor&comma; School of Health Sciences&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-canterbury-1004" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Canterbury<&sol;a><&sol;em>&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;aaron-hapuku-2350735" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Aaron Hapuku<&sol;a>&comma; Lecturer&comma; School of Health Sciences&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-canterbury-1004" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Canterbury<&sol;a><&sol;em>&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;helena-cook-1523153" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Helena Cook<&sol;a>&comma; Lecturer&comma; School of Social and Cultural Studies&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-canterbury-1004" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Canterbury<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;profiles&sol;jennifer-smith-2350718" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Jennifer Smith<&sol;a>&comma; Senior Lecturer&comma; Faculty of Education&comma; <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;institutions&sol;university-of-canterbury-1004" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">University of Canterbury<&sol;a><&sol;em><&sol;h5>&NewLine;<h4>This article is republished from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">The Conversation<&sol;a> under a Creative Commons license&period; Read the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;theconversation&period;com&sol;school-phone-ban-one-year-on-our-student-survey-reveals-mixed-feelings-about-its-success-252179" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">original article<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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