As schools across California prepare to limit students’ cellphone use during the school day by July 2026, new research by the University of California, Los Angeles cautions school leaders that completely banning phones on school grounds can cause more harm than good and deepen existing inequities among students.
The new research brief comes from the University of California and California State University Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity and Learning — a research and educational policy group comprised of UC and CSU faculty — and the educational think tank the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Phone-Free School Act last year, but Bay Area schools have been split on the law, expressing concerns over what the ban would mean for school safety and arguing it doesn’t make sense for schools to restrict or ban phones in districts that provide students with computers and wifi access.
Related Articles
Why a scholarship for Black California students now has to accept white applicants
Saratoga High represented in Speaking and Service Awards
Hillbrook School represented in national Speaking and Service Awards
Trump administration tries to gut special education department amid government shutdown
Staff, students remark on state of the Sunnyvale School District
Research has shown that excessive cellphone use among youth can lead to disrupted learning, negative well-being and challenges like bullying, distractions and device addiction, and young adults’ underdeveloped impulse control and brain and behavioral changes can make youth particularly susceptible to the negative consequences of cellphone use. And a shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated students’ excessive phone use and created additional challenges for young adults’ abilities to interact in person, develop social skills and focus in the classroom.
But the research brief from the UC and CSU collaborative cautions school leaders that limiting students’ cellphone use through bans or restrictions without providing guidance for educators on how to enforce those rules or failing to consider the benefits of technology for students’ learning and development can cause more harm than good, especially to marginalized communities.
Kathy Do, lead author of the brief, said the goal was to give educators and families access to the latest research on the effects of student phone use and help schools design fair and effective policies around cellphone use on campus.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all answer and the goal shouldn’t be just about restriction, but helping young people build those balanced, digital habits,” Do said. “Restriction alone is not going to teach adults or young people how to use their phones in responsible and balanced ways.”
The brief summarized existing research that shows cellphones often distract students and make it harder for them to focus on learning and school work, with young people receiving an average of 237 notifications from apps on their phones a day, a quarter of which arrive during the school day. And while students in phone-free classrooms tended to perform better on tests and take better notes in class, despite school cellphone bans, students still find ways to use their phones during school hours for social media, games and videos.
But the brief also highlighted the positives of student phone use, pointing out that students use cellphones to stay informed about current events, discover new information, cope with stress or explore their identities, and help them build independence. And cellphone use can also support student learning, with technological advances expanding access for students with health or learning needs and helping many students stay socially connected with caregivers and peers.
According to the research, as of 2025, 42 U.S. states have passed laws or recommendations to limit student cellphone use in schools to address concerns about cellphone use and its impact on students’ learning and well-being. About 18 states, including New York, Texas and Vermont have implemented full bans on school campuses, while 7 states, including Tennessee, Kentucky and Utah have implemented bans during instructional hours. California is among 17 states that require local policies to restrict phone use in schools.
Researchers compared phone bans and restrictions among U.S. states and pointed out the common challenges educators and school leaders face when implementing them. Less restrictive policies, like allowing students to use phones for learning only, supports research that shows students use phones to reduce anxiety and provides much-needed flexibility, but policies often vary among classrooms, making it difficult to enforce and can lead to excessive phone use during learning breaks. And more restrictive bans, like locking phones away, can reduce distractions and improve focus but cause safety concerns for families on how to maintain communication with their children or make it hard to support students who need phones for medical conditions or learning needs. And strict policies can harm students from marginalized communities who rely on cellphones as their only internet access or assistive technology, or result in harsher discipline for certain student groups like special education students, students from low-income families and LGBTQ+ students.
The research brief’s authors said it’s crucial for school leaders to balance the benefits from student phone use while minimizing the harm it can cause and emphasized that students are still developing digital habits and need adult guidance and the ability to practice using cellphones in ways that promote their health and well-being rather than interfere with it.
To do that, they recommended school leaders pair cellphone restrictions with education for students on why restrictions matter, include educators, families and students when designing policies and avoid one-size-fits-all policies that don’t account for students’ diversity, age differences or unique needs.
Do said she hopes schools use the research brief to help craft better cellphone policies and support their students.
“I think it’s important that we don’t just do the restriction part, but also schools, communities, families need to invest in that digital readiness,” Do said. “We’re all learning — not just young people, but adults — how to build those balanced, healthy digital habits. And so I think this is an opportunity for all of us to learn those strategies and try to reinforce that in and out of the classroom.”