Tapped In or Tuned Out? What Kentucky Students Think About School Cell Phone Policies

There’s a movement afoot to ban and/or limit cell phone use in K-12 schools. Various rationales for this exist, including the 2024 US Surgeon General warning that social media is damaging to young people’s mental health. States like Florida, for example, have already banned the use of social media in schools, and districts across the country1 are moving toward banning the use of cell phones, with the argument that not only is social media use bad for students, but it also leads to increasingly dangerous school communities, where bullying and cyberbullying are commonplace. Internationally, following  Australia’s outright ban of social media for young people under 16 years of age in 2024, Denmark banned cell phones in schools in 2025.

Given this broader climate, the research branch of the Kentucky Student Voice Team, with its continual emphasis on the importance of student agency and student voice, wanted to better understand how Kentucky students feel about the use of cell phones and social media in schools. Accordingly, our research was guided by the following questions:

1. How does cell phone use in schools impact Kentucky students' educational experiences?
2. What are the benefits and challenges related to cell phone use in schools?

Analysis of data showed that school cell phone policies are largely teacher-dependent rather than uniformly enforced by a standardized policy. The responses from students also reveal varying perspectives on the effectiveness of these policies and their impact on learning. After interviewing students, our team found common themes and compiled their ideas into recommendations.

1. Clearly Define Emergency Access
2. Allow Non-Instructional-Time Use
3. Help Schools Implement Management
4. Fund Student Mental Health Resources
5. Teach Responsible Tech Use & Information and Media Literacy
6. Develop Fair and Supportive Discipline Policies