Why Are Schools Banning Phones?

Gauvain Hardouin, Grade 10, Staff Writer

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On May 9, 2025, New York became the largest state to enact a highly controversial bill to ban phones in schools. Common Sense reports on how our school has implemented the new law.

      This program is meant to remove distractions to students. It allowed schools to independently enforce this bill, and there was no clear storing equipment distributed. At the High School of American Studies, the school decided that phones must be in students’ lockers from 8:00 to 2:20 and, if seen by any school employee, would be promptly confiscated. 

Jonah Schmutter(28’), Clyde Britelle(28’), and Dylan Eldridge(28’) described their initial reactions:  they felt “shocked”, “confused”, or even “uncertain” about possible effects of this law. 

It is essential that New Yorkers understand the absurdity of this bill and how, in an increasingly competitive world, it hinders students’ progress. This bill doesn’t prepare students to increase social gaps and isn’t enforceable.

Technology is improving every day as the world continues to evolve and modernize. Artificial Intelligence and other innovations are becoming omnipresent in today’s society, and many huge corporations have started to require mastery of them for new employees. Despite this, schools have not evolved much from a hundred years ago and, with the phone ban, we have only taken another step back. 

As Anthony Kolaj(28’) put it, “phones and innovations aren’t going anywhere, and, if we cannot become used to an ever changing world, we as a society will fall behind”. 

This poses an excellent question: how can we expect our students to make the next great invention  if they haven’t been taught to use the most basic equipment we have today? 

Many have observed this problem, and this has led to another major issue: increased differences between social classes. The phone ban only applies to public schools. Private schools are still allowed to utilize phones and other forms of technology.

Even though schools such as HSAS have bought some new computers to replace student technology, it’s not enough for all students, and these iPads or computers aren’t always fully functional. 

This has led some parents to desire switching their kids from public to private so they can get an education that truly prepares them for the future. 

However, not everyone can afford this costly switch as private school tuition even with scholarships costs a lot of money. This means that those who can make this switch will be able to better prepare their kids for the future while everyone else falls behind in a system not designed for our world. 

This ban is also completely futile. Ellery Sarig (27’) mentioned how he believed current enforcement made the bill useless. 

Schools have so many other major problems and often a lack of funding that they just can’t be expected to regulate hundreds or thousands of students at all times to make sure they aren’t using their phones. 

This extra stress and responsibility on teachers is often only exacerbating other problems at schools instead of really solving anything. The phone ban is already a failure and does far more harm than good for New Yorkers as public schools have more responsibilities and can’t give students the education they require in the modern world.