Hate or love, phones have permeated into the daily lives of people around the world. They are relied on for communication and connection by everyone who owns one. Technology has the greatest impact on the younger generations, namely students, who would be hard-pressed to live without it. However, schools are now discussing banning cell phones in class to varying degrees. 

Cell phones should be banned in classrooms because of the distraction they pose to students and teachers alike. The scenario of a student picking up their phone to check a message and the teacher interrupting their lesson to remind the student to put the phone down has been overplayed time and time again. Confiscating cell phones, for the class period or the whole day, has been proven to improve focus. Psychology professor from the University of Pennsylvania Angela Duckworth said, “A principle that could be summarized as physical distance creates psychological distance. When you are in the presence of a temptation, the closer it is to you, the more tempting it is.” When phones are removed from the immediate attention of students, they are able to dedicate their focus to the work at hand. 

Along with preventing distraction, banning cell phones can improve test scores and grades for students. According to research done by the Knowledge at Wharton, the grades in classrooms with phone bans in place increased by a meaningful 0.07 standard deviation. 

Many try to claim that phones can be used for educational purposes in the classroom. For example, students can use a phone calculator instead of having to buy an expensive TI-84 graphing calculator. However, the temptation to start checking your messages when you are meant to be using Desmos is hard to ignore. The article Digital Distractions in Class Linked to Lower Academic Performance found that ⅔ of American students claimed that their devices were a major distraction.  

Banning cell phones in classrooms is a proven way to enhance the performance of students because of the elimination of distractions and boost students’ grades. Laws enacting cell phone bans in schools are the proven number one way to create change in schools across the country. Students, teachers, and parents alike benefit from the banning of cell phones.