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Welcome to our series on the 2025 Washington State legislative session. Learn more and follow along as bills are proposed, passed and passed over: What the 2025 Legislative Session Means for Washington Families. |
A veteran teacher on screens, teens and heartbreak
This is my 25th year in the classroom, so I have been a firsthand witness to the proliferation of technology in the classroom and have seen the positive and negative impacts on students’ ability to learn.
I recently began a class period by walking around my classroom and audibly counting and stopped at 18. Of the 25 students in my classroom, 18 of them had a screen out at the start of the class and a couple of them had multiple screens on their desks. I’m not going to lie, it was heartbreaking, and it was a firsthand example of the grip that smartphones and technology have on my students.
If you want to make the greatest impact, take out your phone and call your legislators or show up in person.
A week prior to this incident, I had placed my students into groups of five to review a primary source document. I instructed them to discuss the document, identifying key words and phrases, and then to summarize their portion of it in their own words. I set a timer for seven minutes and said, “You may begin,” expecting students to engage in a lively discussion in their small groups.
After nearly two minutes of silence, I stopped the timer and had to instruct my students on the necessity of actually talking to one another. After they finally began conversing, it made me consider just how badly student dependence on cell phones has stunted their interpersonal communication skills.
From worries over too much socializing, to an antisocial crisis
At the beginning of my career, the worry was that given too much down time in class, students would start talking to one another and become disruptive. Now the worry is how little students talk to one another face-to-face, and that interpersonal communication has become another skill deficit area that schools will need to address.
My classroom policy is that screens should not be out and visible unless otherwise allowed by the teacher. The day I counted 18 screens, I did not have plans to use tech that day. Sometimes it is useful to revisit the syllabus, but on that day I decided to lean into a teachable moment about screen addiction and how phones can be an impediment to learning and social interaction in general. One student was apologetic about having his phone out and said he honestly doesn’t even realize that he’s checking it — that checking his phone is more of a reflex.
Should cell phones be prohibited in high school during class time?
When I have talked with my students about cell phone use during class time, I routinely get responses about wanting to keep their phone handy in case a parent needs to get a hold of them. Other students express their concerns over school shootings and wanting to have their phone ready in case they need to call 911, which is a sad commentary about the reality that too many students face.
Resist the urge to email, mean tweet, or use any other digital or social media methods to address your state legislators.
I don’t want to minimize school safety concerns and students have every right to feel that anxiety. Thankfully, my school has never experienced a shooting or credible threats of violence, something that I cannot say for several of my teacher friends and colleagues from around the country that have had those kinds of horrific experiences.
While having access to phones out of safety concerns is very real for some students, it does make you wonder how many of them voice that concern, but their real motivation is maintaining access to Instagram and TikTok. I do feel horrible saying that, but I was a teenager once too (a really long time ago, yikes), and I’ve been working with teenagers for 25 years and I am the parent of two teenagers, so I understand the things they’ll say to get what they want.
I’ll admit, as a parent, my own children have sent me text messages during the school day, usually to notify me that they forgot something at home, or to ask me what we are having for dinner. Granted, my own children also know that I only check my phone between classes and on my prep hour. I try to practice what I preach on my own course syllabus. Thankfully, my own children have never reached out to me about a school shooting.
Finding a balance of where and when students should have access to cell phones in schools is a challenge that classroom teachers, parents, school districts and now state legislatures are trying to solve. Most of the public opinion polling that I have seen indicates that adults favor banning student access to cell phones during class time. Unsurprisingly, students overwhelmingly disagree with this sentiment.
The increase of social media apps that are available only on smartphones, and equipping phones with front-facing cameras has led to an increase in posting, scrolling and self-harm among young people.
My students participate in On Tuesday We Vote, a national movement of social studies teachers from around the country. Earlier this year, we asked students the question, “Should cell phones be prohibited in high school during class time?” Eighty percent of my students voted “No.”
I was not surprised by my students’ opinions on the issue, and their opinion was a reflection of the type of opposition that teachers, parents, school districts and lawmakers will face as they seek solutions to this problem.
The ‘anxious generation’ in real life classrooms
A combination of learning loss caused by the disruption in schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, shorter attention spans because of the near constant draw of the internet, and the widely shared research presented in Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation” about the contribution of smartphones to a rising mental health crisis among youth, has brought the issue of cell phone access during the school day to the forefront.
In “The Anxious Generation,” Haidt demonstrates how the proliferation of smartphones and kids’ ability to access the internet constantly correlates to the rising mental health crisis among youth. The increase of social media apps that are available only on smartphones, and equipping phones with front-facing cameras has led to an increase in posting, scrolling and self-harm among young people.
The exemptions provided in HB 1122 should allay some parents’ fears about completely cutting off direct access to their children.
The dopamine hit that people get from posting on social media becomes addictive, especially for adolescents whose brains are still developing. Social media algorithms are also crafted in a way to keep users engaged with posts of short videos that are short-circuiting adolescent attention spans.
Getting students to pay attention during a short lecture, even getting them to watch an educationally valuable video clip longer than two minutes, has become difficult. One student recently suggested to one of my colleagues who is a gifted storyteller that if his stories are not formatted like a TikTok post, students will lose interest and won’t pay attention.
States are starting to take action
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, as of October 2024, 27 states and Puerto Rico had introduced legislation related to cell phone use in schools, and the governors of four states (Arkansas, Montana, Oklahoma and Virginia) had taken executive action on the issue.
In Montana, Gov. Greg Gianforte issued a letter to Montana superintendents and school board trustees encouraging them to create cell phone-free schools to limit distractions and improve student academic performance.
In Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a pilot program for creating cell phone-free schools and a grant program with the state providing Yondr cell phone pouches to combat students’ screen addiction.
Washington lawmakers propose banning cell phones in schools
House Bill 1122 in the Washington State Legislature has been prefiled for the 2025–26 legislative session. This bill aims to limit student use of mobile phones during instructional hours.
Citing distractions caused by mobile phones and mental health concerns as the rationale for the bill, HB 1122 is proposing that school districts across the state pilot plans to limit or ban cell phones in schools with support from state and federal funding to implement the new policies.
Evidence has shown that students in schools around the country that have already begun to implement cell phone bans have seen improved academic performance and improved social engagement, both of which I want to see as a teacher and a parent.
Costs for schools
Cell phone pouches represent a large expense ranging between $25–$30 per pouch, so cash-strapped school districts that want to explore that option would require government funding.
School districts that opt for the pocket chart method of corralling cell phones would still need to appropriate money with the most common calculator/cell phone pocket chart costing between $14–$17 per classroom.
Schools would also need to collect and process data on student academic performance after implementing cell phone bans, which incurs additional expenses of resources.
Timeline of ban implementation according to HB 1122
Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal would need to brief the Washington State Legislature on data related to student cell phone access by Dec. 15, 2025.
School districts would be required to adopt a policy and procedures for restricting mobile phones during instructional hours by the beginning of the 2026–2027 school year.
Possible options for cell phone policies in schools
Washington school districts could adopt policies ranging from having students place phones in a pocket chart in the front of a classroom, to schools requiring students to place cell phones in radio frequency pouches similar to those used at concert venues at the request of certain musicians.
Yondr is a company that makes pouches for cell phone-free environments. Their phone pouches are magnetically sealed and cannot be opened unless they are tapped to an opening base. Schools that contract with a company like Yondr would need to have central locations for the opening base, or place opening bases in teacher classrooms.
Exemptions for students with special needs
HB 1122 does also offer exemptions that would allow students to have access to their cell phone during instructional time if they have health issues, are in the midst of a family emergency, are English language learners, or have certain disabilities.
Students with severe anxiety that use phones to communicate with their parents, or use music or background noise for support would most likely receive an exemption as well.
Parents wanting their children to have access to their cell phone during the day would be able to provide reasoning and seek cell phone ban exemptions that would be included in their student’s IEP or 504 accommodation plan.
The exemptions provided in HB 1122 should allay some parents’ fears about completely cutting off direct access to their children because schools would provide processes to ensure student access to phones for educational or emergency purposes.
A high school in Northern Virginia piloting a cell phone-free environment sent out reminders to parents of the numerous ways that they would be able to reach school and their students in the event of an emergency and over time it became less of a parental concern.
Collaboration is vital as solutions remain unclear
I’ve thrown a lot at you to this point, so let’s unpack this. Some of you might be thinking that legislative action on this issue is necessary and should be passed and fast-tracked into action. Others might view this as a government overreach into an issue that should be settled by parents, teachers and local school boards. Maybe it’s a little bit of both.
As a parent and community member, you are invested in the health and well-being of your children and those that attend your school system. Creating an educationally viable setting for students is the responsibility of all adults. The way that we can make the greatest impact is by having parents, teachers, school administrators and policymakers make decisions after considering all opinions on the matter.
If this legislation is passed and signed into law, it will be up to local school districts to design a policy and procedures that work for their community. Schools that like the radio frequency pouch approach to limit student access to cell phones may not have the funding to purchase them, which is where state funding would be necessary.
Pros of the pouches, according to a parent and teacher
Candidly, as a teacher and a parent, I’m firmly on Team Radio Frequency Pouch. The radio frequency pouch allows students to have their cell phone in their possession, while training them to reflect on breaking the cycle of mindlessly checking their phones all the time.
The Washington Post recently ran a story about a high school piloting a cell phone-free environment using Yondr pouches. Most of the students profiled in the article realized how much screen time they were logging in a day once the pouches were implemented, and saw improvements in their focus during class time along with improvements in their mood.
As a parent and teacher, I think the cell phone pouch offers a better option because students are more likely to go through the entire school day without ever looking at their cell phones instead of keeping cell phones in a pocket chart and racing to check texts and notifications during passing time and lunch.
School districts would be required to adopt a policy and procedures for restricting mobile phones during instructional hours by the beginning of the 2026–2027 school year.
Also, in my experience, the “cell phone parking lot” approach is problematic. If students are provided with a pocket chart and have to place their cell phones in it in the front of the class, I’m now the teacher/cell phone police, which is a responsibility that I don’t want because I need to remind students to put their phones in the correct pocket at the beginning of the class, remind students to get them at the end of the hour, and track down the owner of forgotten cell phones if students leave the classroom without collecting their phone. Even with measures to create cell phone-free environments, students still try to outsmart the system by putting an old phone or a burner phone in a pocket chart or into a Yondr pouch, so schools and parents will need to create and enforce consequences for students that continue to violate cell phone-free policies.
How parents can weigh in on the proposed cell phone ban
If cell phones in schools have you motivated to voice your opinion on either side, let’s talk about the next steps you should take. Some of this may be a refresher from your own high school civics class, so you’ve probably heard this before.
So much political communication is geared toward electronic communication, but we’ve got to fight it and for good reason. Resist the urge to email, mean tweet, or use any other digital or social media methods to address your state legislators. Many legislators never see emails, webforms or social media posts, which are handled by interns or artificial intelligence programs.
If you want to make the greatest impact, take out your phone and call your legislators or show up in person. You would be surprised how often state legislators advertise town hall events and how few people show up to meet them.
I went to meet with a state lawmaker once at my city’s community center to discuss the education budget and found him in the smallest possible room all by himself. I honestly felt bad for him, so after we discussed the education budget, I started asking questions about several issues that I had not intended to bring up just to keep him busy. My plan was to make a gracious exit when another person showed up and no one else showed up, so we ended up having an hour-long conversation.
Call lawmakers to make your voice heard
If you are not sure who your legislators are, no problem, just go to www.leg.wa.gov, click on the Legislators tab, and then go to District Finder. You’ll be able to find your legislators by typing in your address, then you can click on their website and locate their office phone number.
Even if you can’t get your legislator on the line, leaving a voicemail or talking to a legislative staff member is still impactful because they document the contacts by constituents on legislative matters. When the legislative staffer prepares reports at the end of the day, they report which bills or issues they have taken calls about and how many were in favor versus how many were opposed. If a lawmaker’s constituents are heavily in favor or opposed to a bill or a legislative topic, it can sway how that lawmaker would vote or what types of questions they will ask if a bill comes to the floor for debate.
Once you’ve called and voiced your opinion, encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. When your state legislator holds a town hall event, go meet them in person and speak with them face-to-face on the issues you care about.
Proof that calling works
The organization Indivisible was founded by former congressional staffers at the beginning of the Trump Administration, and they stressed the importance of phone calls over electronic communication. When the Affordable Care Act was in jeopardy in 2017, the sheer volume of phone calls received by the congressional switchboard locked up all of the phone lines at the capitol making it impossible for lawmakers to call each other, forcing them to listen to the people they represented.
A similar action was taken in 2011 when people flooded the capitol switchboard in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill with broad bipartisan support that was going to pass. Within 48 hours, the sheer volume of phone calls received about the Stop Online Piracy Act stopped the bill in its tracks and killed it.
Be the leader you want your child to become
Don’t be intimidated to call or talk to a state legislator, they work for you, you are their boss. Just please remember to remain calm and civil when talking to your legislators and practice the type of democracy that will provide a good example for our kids.
I often hear people complain about how nothing changes and how the government cannot do anything right. Think of this as your opportunity to prove that assertion wrong and to help improve the quality of education and the school environment for students and teachers.
Thanks for your time, class dismissed.
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