In this 21st century we are blessed (and cursed) with the ability to find any fact at the drop of a hat – or rather, the tap of a phone. Contrary to warnings issued by math teachers back in the day, we do have a calculator in our pockets at all times. And much more.
Still, some things feel like plain old common sense, unnecessary to research. I believe the scientific term for this is “no-brainer.” For instance, if you allow students unfettered access to one of these calculators-plus in their pockets while they are supposed to be in a learning environment, they will be tempted by these devices. Education officials should not require research studies to inform them that smartphones are distractions in class and thus detrimental to students’ education.
Governments are finally catching on. Here in British Columbia, a ban on cellphone use takes effect when the school year begins next week, with the province finally joining several others that have restricted cellphone use in schools or plan to. One does wonder why it has taken so long. Cellphones have been a huge disrupter in the classroom, challenging teachers who must compete with addictive screens, as well as students who are being shortchanged in their educations because of these devices.
In a giant high-school auditorium during a speed-dating-like parent-teacher session last spring, I had reason to inquire of an educator: why not just take the phone away if it’s a problem? The response: it’s a liability issue. What if something happens to the phone while it’s in the teacher’s possession?
After I retrieved my Gen-X jaw from the gym floor, I offered explicit permission and waived any liability. But by this point, there had been years of cellphone use in class. I recall being shocked when, early in my son’s high-school education (which in Vancouver begins in Grade 8), he mentioned that he had spent time on his phone in class. Huh? What?
Not only was phone use encouraged in pursuit of research or to play an educational game such as Kahoot!, which is reasonable, he reported to me that once an assignment had been completed, students could go on their phones. What? Huh? What screen-addicted kid wouldn’t be tempted to rush through their work in order to spend time on their phone? Could they not be told, instead, to read a book? Or chip away at something else?
So now, finally, action. “They’re not going to be out in the hallways, not going to be out in the schoolyards,” said B.C. Premier David Eby this week. “It’s a bell-to-bell restriction on cellphones.”
The objective is consistency, although specific rules will vary depending on the school district and students’ age. Still, say a prayer for the educators who are suddenly going to have to police smartphone use in class and outside of it in a “bell-to-bell” scenario – appropriate for elementary pupils, but not secondary students. High-school students are going to be operating in the real world, which includes cellphones, so why instruct them otherwise?
“There is something artificial when you say: for the next hour let’s just transform the way things work completely and pretend that phones don’t exist,” Ron Darvin, assistant professor in language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia, told me. “Because the truth is if we say students need to research, they will be checking on their phones.”
Still, the studies confirm what most of us suspect. A large body of work shows cellphone use in the classroom is disruptive and has negative consequences on academic performance. It affects recall and comprehension. From a study by Franklin University professor Alexander J. Donte I learned the term “phubbing” – the concurrent use of cellphones during conversations or in other environments, such as the classroom. Prof. Donte’s study states that phubbing during class could have “dramatic effects” on learning, as instructors may disengage from lessons owing to feeling ignored by students.
A 2024 Pew Research Center study found 72 per cent of U.S. high-school teachers said cellphone use is a major problem in their classrooms. A 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report cited a study that found it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on what they were learning after the distraction of a notification. If adults can’t resist the temptation of a buzzing phone, imagine being a teenager with much less impulse control?
A 2021 Canadian study concluded: “The cumulative evidence of the risks and detrimental impact of cellphones on student learning, well-being, and safety suggests that educators must address these devices’ presence and roles in schools more seriously and systematically than has been the case to date.”
The smartphone is an integral part of students’ lives, and always will be. There’s no reason to pretend they don’t exist as an educational tool.
But beyond that, in the classroom, they should not be allowed. You don’t need a PhD to figure that out.