School cell phone bans work, advocates say

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  Katie Knol is WITF's General Assignment Reporter & Host.
  
  She graduated from Penn State University in 2024, earning bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science. She has also worked at WPSU, the News Lab at Penn State, The Daily Collegian and CommRadio.

Central Pa. schools and advocacy groups say they are seeing the benefits of cell phones being banned in schools. 

Both the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives and the state Senate have passed separate bills that would enact a bell-to-bell cell phone ban for students.

The bills passed by the House and the Senate are similar, but the chambers will need to reconcile language before moving the bill forward for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature. Shapiro has previously stated he would support a bell-to-bell ban if the bill comes to his desk, although a school cell phone ban was not included in the state budget that was approved Sunday night. 

Many districts across the state already have restrictive cell phone policies, though some allow students to use their devices between classes or during lunch.

At Eastern Lancaster County School District, the school board first adopted restrictions for the 2024-25 school year that varied by grade level. Elementary school students could not have personal electronic devices at school, middle school students had a bell-to-bell ban and students on the secondary campus could only use devices during “non-instructional times” or with teacher permission.

At the end of the 2025-26 school year, the school board approved a revised policy extending the bell-to-bell ban to all students. Superintendent Michael Snopkowski said they first considered the policy after hearing concerns from building administrators and students.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania found that bell-to-bell bans bring the most academic, social and emotional, and safety benefits.

Snopkowski said Eastern Lancaster County’s students are more engaged in lessons and building stronger in-person relationships.

“I still believe in my heart, our kids are good kids,” he said. “They’re trying to be good to each other, and I think it’s just become much too easy over time for kids to have access to a way in which they can say things, or interact with others that they would never do in person, but they became comfortable doing it online.”

When the board started looking at cell phone restrictions, he said about 95% of parents were supportive. Most of the remaining parents had questions about how the restrictions would work. 

Kristen Bedard with PA Unplugged, a statewide coalition of local community groups advocating for reduced screen and social media use among children, said that positive response from parents is common.

Students would still have access to technology throughout the day, with many schools pushing to be one-to-one with either laptops or tablets.

“The low-hanging fruit is to make sure that kids do not have access to personal electronic devices throughout the school day because they do have access to the school-issued devices,” Bedard said. “There’s really no need to have access to both.”

PA Unplugged works with teachers and administrators throughout the state and gets feedback on student relationships with technology. Bedard said they’ve reported being able to get through more educational content throughout the year, and that students are socially interacting with each other more often.

Nearly 40 states restrict cell phone use in schools, according to EducationWeek.

“There’s been a clear statement made that Pennsylvania is ready for this and that the governor supports it, so we’re hopeful that something will happen soon,” Bedard said.