Massachusetts has recently passed a state ”bell to bell” bill that starting fall 2026, returning students will not have their phones at all during school.
Starting fall of 2026, there will be a ban of all student cell phones during the school day. At Oliver Ames from 7:55 A.M. to 2:25 P.M., student cell phones will not be allowed to be used during class, lunch, passing periods and the bathroom. This ban will go from Kindergarten to twelfth grade and it is currently passed in 30 states. The only exceptions are for students who require their phones for medical needs, individual based education plans, and disabilities.
Kylie Benjamin, a junior at Oliver Ames High School, who will be going into her last year of high school with the phone ban, has strong opinions about the upcoming cell phone ban.
”I don’t think that it is a good idea. I feel like it’s a problem for safety in school. Like I feel like the ban is not necessary. People will still find ways to have phones even with the ban,” she said.
Alexa Spinola, a junior at Oliver Ames just like Kylie, also has some passionate feelings about the upcoming phone ban. Spinola gets heated when answering.
“I feel like it’s unnecessary. Nobody in classes is on their phones because they’re already in those pockets so there’s no reason to make the ban more intense.I think people are respectful enough to know that when a teacher is teaching you don’t go on your phone and if they are then that’s a personal issue. It doesn’t need to be something that affects everyone.”
Kids and parents will have a strong reaction to this ban whether it’s negative or positive. Teachers and students will also have differing reactions, students will probably be more upset about it because it is directed straight at them. Similar to what Kylie feels about parents also having conflicting thoughts.
“I think some parents will be happy with it, but some parents would feel that it’s unsafe based on the fact that their kids would not be able to contact them in emergency situations,” Benjamin said.
Most likely kids will have somewhat of the same opinion when it comes to this ban. It is more so the difference between the teachers and students when it comes to the bell to bell ban.
“I think some parents will be like ‘you’ll survive’ and other parents will be concerned for like safety purposes but I don’t think that it really affects them. I don’t think that they’ll have very much of an opinion on it,” Spinola said.
A lot of kids who are in a similar age group as Kylie don’t know life without their phones, so not having their phones at school could possibly impact social interactions with one another.
As Kylie lifts up her head to imagine what school would be like without phones, she delivers her next thought.
“I think the ban will make some people feel more uncomfortable. Because people aren’t used to having to talk face to face. I think it would be a neutral effect, I don’t think it would be positive or negative like socially.”
There are kids who take advantage of having their phone and use it to communicate with others. The ban will definitely affect how kids will talk to each other and how engaged they are in each other’s conversations. Talking about using phones in social situations Spinola responds with her thoughts.
“I don’t think it will change anything. I think the people at lunch already sit and talk with their friends and I think the only thing it will affect is the people who don’t have a friend to sit with at lunch and they will be sitting in silence instead of maybe like listening to music or playing a game on their phone. I don’t think it would affect the people who already aren’t on their phones, it’ll affect the people who are on their phones.”
There are two sides to every story, everyone has their own opinion about the upcoming phone ban. Most likely the teachers and students’ opinions will differ. Mr. Gotsell, who is a history and law teacher at Oliver Ames High School, also had some ideas about the phone ban.
“Well it hasn’t passed yet, but when it does pass I think just like it was here when we instituted our phone policy. There will be some adjustments, even where we are at with the phone ban, kids are still, whether it’s in the halls or at lunch, still thinking about their phones even when they don’t have their phones so by eliminating that distraction, I think we’ll see grades go up.”
One thing teachers will be more concerned about are student grades. The opinions differ when it comes to the phones impacting the students grades. There’s also the conversation of what parents will think of this ban. As Mr. Gotsell looks up trying to think, he delivers his answer.
“I’m sure there’ll be some initial pushback especially in times of god forbid a tragedy. Studies show that phones are more distracting to kids during a tragedy because they aren’t listening to law enforcement or not listening to teachers could cause more harm plus the phone lines would probably be jammed anyways.”
Students will probably have stronger and more opinions about the ban impacting social interactions. During the passing periods, advisory and lunch students will be prohibited to use their phones, so social interactions could change.
“I think it will be beneficial. Some kids right now struggle to even hold a conversation with their peers so hopefully in doing that it will make it go back to the norm. I might be worried that there might be too much pushback from parents or other outside powers or again if teachers don’t follow it,”.