Voices: As a student, I’ve seen how cellphone bans improve classrooms. But a ‘bell-to-bell’ ban goes too far.

I was born in 2009, two years after the first iPhone was released and took the world by storm. Suddenly, the world was more connected than ever before, and as technology grew and adapted, our culture grew and adapted with it.

My generation is now the “guinea pig.” We are the first generation to have grown up with constant internet and mobile access from a young age.

As many are beginning to realize, the digital age is having more of an impact on our generation than could have been anticipated. With increased phone use and increased rates of mental illness, educators are rightfully worried.

But banning cellphones is not the right answer.

Despite the Utah State Legislature having passed SB178 in 2025, banning cellphone use during class, a new bill has recently been proposed to expand this bill, effectively seeking to ban phones from the first bell to the last bell in grades K-12. This would further prohibit phones not just in class, but in the halls and at lunch.

I understand the reasoning behind this new bill, but from a student’s perspective, it is a bad idea.

I’ve seen drastic improvements in school due to the current bill that’s in place, with less distraction and more respect towards phone policies. Classes feel more focused, and phone use is directly tied to academics. The current practice of banning phones in class, rather than a bell-to-bell ban, is the best way to go forward.

There are several reasons why.

Mental health

My biggest concern surrounding this kind of ban is in regards to teens who use their phones to cope with loneliness and anxiety while at school. While loneliness and isolation among teens is at an all-time high, banning cellphones at this point is only going to increase this problem.

In my experience, this problem is mostly due to the culture surrounding friend groups, where like-minded people hang out with like-minded people, often unintentionally excluding others. I often see students outside these friend groups using their phones at lunch, probably to curb the social anxiety of being alone. Banning phones would only magnify the fact that they are by themselves, leaving them with nowhere to turn. The best antidote to loneliness is connection with others and community, not removing phones. We use our phones to connect. That is the world adults created for us.

Safety

Being able to communicate during emergencies is essential for both students and parents. While we often think emergencies involve violence — a critical time to be able to reach one another — urgent issues also can be personal, like forgetting something important at home, or needing a change of clothes after a menstrual emergency. Students also use their phones for checking insulin levels, receiving alerts about low/high glucose levels or reminders for medication.

I have had many experiences where access to the SafeUT app was necessary to report problems, like bullying, self-harm, and other instances that a student may witness at school. It is a safe and fast way to get help or report an issue. The immediacy of the event tends to compel students to report it, but this essentially goes away if phones are banned. Removing this line of communication creates undue hardship around personal, medical and safety issues.

Planning and coordination

It’s important for the members of different extracurricular communities to be able to communicate with each other during school hours, given the complexities of sports schedules, club meetings and other activities. Most sports have competitions during the school day, requiring communication from coaches regarding departure time and bus arrivals. It is also necessary to have phones to communicate with friends when planning lunch together or meeting up for school events, such as assemblies. Phones facilitate planning and coordination. They bring us together.

Schoolwork

This ban might also make it harder for teachers and students when it comes to completing work. In my journalism class, for example, we use our phones to record interviews for the school paper to ensure accuracy, and many students are required to submit assignments for classes or clubs by uploading photos of the completed work into Canvas.

Is the Legislature going to buy devices that allow for audio and video recordings, photographs and digital editing to replace the needed academic functions of phones?

Just another rule to break

I rarely see students on their phones in class, other than for academic purposes. Those who use their phones for playing games or scrolling on social media are clearly not concerned. A bell-to-bell ban is not going to change those students. They are still going to try to sneak their phone into class and out of their bags.

Bans only punish the obedient. If schools opt for pouches, as has been discussed, students will find ways to work around it. I know some students who have mentioned just bringing an old phone to turn in, keeping their actual phone hidden in their pocket. Kids are good at finding ways to bypass rules. A ban isn’t going to change this.

Though well intentioned, a bell-to-bell ban is not a good idea. The current phone ban has already created improvement in class and should be maintained. But extending the phone ban to the halls and at lunch is misdirected and will have unintended consequences if adopted.

Bente Tedrow is a junior at Highland, and this is her first year on The Highland Rambler staff, the Highland school newspaper. Bente is an honor-roll student who plans on pursuing a career in medicine.

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