More schools are adopting phone-free days, and the benefits are clear: better mental health, stronger learning, and improved social connection. I’ve also seen the mixed emotions these changes bring, from parents wanting quick access to students missing their devices and teachers feeling the pressure of enforcement. The challenges are real, yet creative fixes and global examples show these policies can thrive. Phone-free schools are ultimately about helping students focus, connect, and do well, and even small acts of support from families can make a real difference.
This school year, millions of students are experiencing something new: policies that require phones, smartwatches, and other devices to be put away for the day.
The science is clear about why this matters. Phone-free schools improve students’ mental health, sharpen their learning, and strengthen their sense of belonging, while also reducing bullying. The benefits are being documented globally. In the Netherlands, a recent study compared schools before and after adopting away-for-the-day policies and found that the majority of students reported their social lives had improved.
Parents are noticing as well. In Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, a longtime Dutch teacher shared that he had never received so many thank-you notes from families as he did after his school adopted phone-free policies.
Teachers have been calling for this change for a long time. Jonathan Haidt, featured in both Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age and Screenagers Elementary School Age Edition, has put it bluntly: “I hear from teachers every day who say they’re quitting because it’s just no fun anymore. You can’t get the kids’ attention.”
It is no wonder teachers, like parents, are celebrating. In Screenagers Next Chapter, a Washington principal recalls that when she announced the new rules, her staff literally cheered. Recent data reveals the level of teachers’ excitement.
Of course, any shift this big comes with mixed emotions. Parents sometimes worry about losing the ability to text their child instantly. Students miss the comfort and distraction their devices provide. Teachers and staff feel the pressure of being enforcers. These feelings are valid and deserve compassion.
Even with the best intentions, rules only work if they’re enforced, and enforcement can be complicated.
Students, for example, are ingenious at finding workarounds. One ninth grader told us he was approached by a senior selling a “subscription plan” to unlock Yondr pouches with a hidden magnet for $100 a year.
School schedules add further wrinkles. Oregon now requires “bell-to-bell” phone bans, but high schoolers who leave campus for lunch often take their phones with them. In Phoenix-Talent, Superintendent Brent Barry worried that students might skip the district’s free meals just to find phone time.
Policy gaps are another challenge. Many states, including my own, Washington, still don’t have laws requiring phone-free schools, leaving coverage uneven.
Even where rules exist, temptation is never far away. Phones are easily accessible when in backpacks and can be used in bathrooms, or dummy phones are put in required pouches.
And then there is the human side. Families can feel uneasy when they can’t reach each other right away, and kids themselves sometimes feel unsettled without that instant line to home. These tensions are real, and they remind us that implementing change isn’t just about rules; it’s also about relationships.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Despite the hurdles, schools and countries are finding creative ways forward.
Concerning the issue above about Phoenix-Talent’s students missing lunch to go off campus, the administration has decided to offer grab-and-go lunches to ensure students can still eat even if they leave campus.
Regarding the issue of students being tempted to use their devices when stored in backpacks or lockers, France is addressing this with a pilot program in over 100 middle schools.
The “digital pause” initiative requires students to store phones in secure boxes until the end of the day. Thus far, parents and teachers have responded with overwhelming approval, noting a clear improvement in school climate.
In response to the fact that some states do not yet have a plan for legislating away-for-the-day policies, The Becca Schmill Foundation, working with The Anxious Generation, Fairplay, and USC’s Neely Center, has drafted model legislation for Phone and Social Media Free Schools.
Their proposal sets out a standard for prioritizing students’ mental health, academic focus, and social development.
And small acts matter too. Parents who send a thank-you card or email to their child’s school can reinforce the importance of these policies. Those words of support are noticed, just as that Dutch teacher experienced when his inbox filled with gratitude.
Implementing phone-free policies doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. At Screenagers, we’ve spent years creating resources that schools tell us make a real difference.
At launch events, communities can screen Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age or Screenagers: Elementary School Edition to spark conversations and build buy-in. Our Welcome to Our Phone-Free School PowerPoint helps administrators explain the reasoning behind the rules, while our classroom versions of the films allow students to see their experiences reflected on screen.
Throughout the year, schools can build momentum with additional films: Screenagers Next Chapter: Mental Health in the Digital Age (see trailer), and Screenagers Under the Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol in the Digital Age (see trailer).
Our curriculum extends these lessons into the classroom, providing activities that reinforce the “why” behind phone-free policies. Teachers also use the curriculum as part of restorative practices when rules are broken, ensuring the focus stays on learning rather than punishment.
Beyond films and curriculum, schools can draw from our weekly Tech Talk Tuesday blog (over 500 posts for sharing in newsletters), our Parenting in the Screen Age podcast, and expert interviews on our YouTube and our student-led peer-to-peer club, Boosting Bravery. Free posters from our Away For The Day campaign can be printed and placed in hallways as a daily reminder of the shared commitment.
Phone-free schools are not about punishment; they’re about creating environments where students can focus, connect, and thrive. The stories from France, Oregon, and countless classrooms show us what’s possible when communities commit to this change.
Yes, there are bumps along the way. But with empathy, creativity, and shared effort, phone-free schools can become not just a moment but a movement.
Learn more about showing our movies in your school or community!
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Learn more about our Screen-Free Sleep campaign at the website!
Our movie made for parents and educators of younger kids
Join Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD for our latest Podcast
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
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This school year, millions of students are experiencing something new: policies that require phones, smartwatches, and other devices to be put away for the day.
The science is clear about why this matters. Phone-free schools improve students’ mental health, sharpen their learning, and strengthen their sense of belonging, while also reducing bullying. The benefits are being documented globally. In the Netherlands, a recent study compared schools before and after adopting away-for-the-day policies and found that the majority of students reported their social lives had improved.
Parents are noticing as well. In Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, a longtime Dutch teacher shared that he had never received so many thank-you notes from families as he did after his school adopted phone-free policies.
Teachers have been calling for this change for a long time. Jonathan Haidt, featured in both Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age and Screenagers Elementary School Age Edition, has put it bluntly: “I hear from teachers every day who say they’re quitting because it’s just no fun anymore. You can’t get the kids’ attention.”
It is no wonder teachers, like parents, are celebrating. In Screenagers Next Chapter, a Washington principal recalls that when she announced the new rules, her staff literally cheered. Recent data reveals the level of teachers’ excitement.
Of course, any shift this big comes with mixed emotions. Parents sometimes worry about losing the ability to text their child instantly. Students miss the comfort and distraction their devices provide. Teachers and staff feel the pressure of being enforcers. These feelings are valid and deserve compassion.
Even with the best intentions, rules only work if they’re enforced, and enforcement can be complicated.
Students, for example, are ingenious at finding workarounds. One ninth grader told us he was approached by a senior selling a “subscription plan” to unlock Yondr pouches with a hidden magnet for $100 a year.
School schedules add further wrinkles. Oregon now requires “bell-to-bell” phone bans, but high schoolers who leave campus for lunch often take their phones with them. In Phoenix-Talent, Superintendent Brent Barry worried that students might skip the district’s free meals just to find phone time.
Policy gaps are another challenge. Many states, including my own, Washington, still don’t have laws requiring phone-free schools, leaving coverage uneven.
Even where rules exist, temptation is never far away. Phones are easily accessible when in backpacks and can be used in bathrooms, or dummy phones are put in required pouches.
And then there is the human side. Families can feel uneasy when they can’t reach each other right away, and kids themselves sometimes feel unsettled without that instant line to home. These tensions are real, and they remind us that implementing change isn’t just about rules; it’s also about relationships.
Despite the hurdles, schools and countries are finding creative ways forward.
Concerning the issue above about Phoenix-Talent’s students missing lunch to go off campus, the administration has decided to offer grab-and-go lunches to ensure students can still eat even if they leave campus.
Regarding the issue of students being tempted to use their devices when stored in backpacks or lockers, France is addressing this with a pilot program in over 100 middle schools.
The “digital pause” initiative requires students to store phones in secure boxes until the end of the day. Thus far, parents and teachers have responded with overwhelming approval, noting a clear improvement in school climate.
In response to the fact that some states do not yet have a plan for legislating away-for-the-day policies, The Becca Schmill Foundation, working with The Anxious Generation, Fairplay, and USC’s Neely Center, has drafted model legislation for Phone and Social Media Free Schools.
Their proposal sets out a standard for prioritizing students’ mental health, academic focus, and social development.
And small acts matter too. Parents who send a thank-you card or email to their child’s school can reinforce the importance of these policies. Those words of support are noticed, just as that Dutch teacher experienced when his inbox filled with gratitude.
Implementing phone-free policies doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. At Screenagers, we’ve spent years creating resources that schools tell us make a real difference.
At launch events, communities can screen Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age or Screenagers: Elementary School Edition to spark conversations and build buy-in. Our Welcome to Our Phone-Free School PowerPoint helps administrators explain the reasoning behind the rules, while our classroom versions of the films allow students to see their experiences reflected on screen.
Throughout the year, schools can build momentum with additional films: Screenagers Next Chapter: Mental Health in the Digital Age (see trailer), and Screenagers Under the Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs, and Alcohol in the Digital Age (see trailer).
Our curriculum extends these lessons into the classroom, providing activities that reinforce the “why” behind phone-free policies. Teachers also use the curriculum as part of restorative practices when rules are broken, ensuring the focus stays on learning rather than punishment.
Beyond films and curriculum, schools can draw from our weekly Tech Talk Tuesday blog (over 500 posts for sharing in newsletters), our Parenting in the Screen Age podcast, and expert interviews on our YouTube and our student-led peer-to-peer club, Boosting Bravery. Free posters from our Away For The Day campaign can be printed and placed in hallways as a daily reminder of the shared commitment.
Phone-free schools are not about punishment; they’re about creating environments where students can focus, connect, and thrive. The stories from France, Oregon, and countless classrooms show us what’s possible when communities commit to this change.
Yes, there are bumps along the way. But with empathy, creativity, and shared effort, phone-free schools can become not just a moment but a movement.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel! We add new videos regularly and you'll find over 100 videos covering parenting advice, guidance, podcasts, movie clips and more. Here's our most recent:
Sign up here to receive the weekly Tech Talk Tuesdays newsletter from Screenagers filmmaker Delaney Ruston MD.
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This school year, millions of students are experiencing something new: policies that require phones, smartwatches, and other devices to be put away for the day.
The science is clear about why this matters. Phone-free schools improve students’ mental health, sharpen their learning, and strengthen their sense of belonging, while also reducing bullying. The benefits are being documented globally. In the Netherlands, a recent study compared schools before and after adopting away-for-the-day policies and found that the majority of students reported their social lives had improved.
Parents are noticing as well. In Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition, a longtime Dutch teacher shared that he had never received so many thank-you notes from families as he did after his school adopted phone-free policies.
Teachers have been calling for this change for a long time. Jonathan Haidt, featured in both Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age and Screenagers Elementary School Age Edition, has put it bluntly: “I hear from teachers every day who say they’re quitting because it’s just no fun anymore. You can’t get the kids’ attention.”
It is no wonder teachers, like parents, are celebrating. In Screenagers Next Chapter, a Washington principal recalls that when she announced the new rules, her staff literally cheered. Recent data reveals the level of teachers’ excitement.
Of course, any shift this big comes with mixed emotions. Parents sometimes worry about losing the ability to text their child instantly. Students miss the comfort and distraction their devices provide. Teachers and staff feel the pressure of being enforcers. These feelings are valid and deserve compassion.
Even with the best intentions, rules only work if they’re enforced, and enforcement can be complicated.
Students, for example, are ingenious at finding workarounds. One ninth grader told us he was approached by a senior selling a “subscription plan” to unlock Yondr pouches with a hidden magnet for $100 a year.
School schedules add further wrinkles. Oregon now requires “bell-to-bell” phone bans, but high schoolers who leave campus for lunch often take their phones with them. In Phoenix-Talent, Superintendent Brent Barry worried that students might skip the district’s free meals just to find phone time.
Policy gaps are another challenge. Many states, including my own, Washington, still don’t have laws requiring phone-free schools, leaving coverage uneven.
Even where rules exist, temptation is never far away. Phones are easily accessible when in backpacks and can be used in bathrooms, or dummy phones are put in required pouches.
And then there is the human side. Families can feel uneasy when they can’t reach each other right away, and kids themselves sometimes feel unsettled without that instant line to home. These tensions are real, and they remind us that implementing change isn’t just about rules; it’s also about relationships.
I recently sat down with middle school principal Zach at his school in Washington State. We talked about the challenges Zach and his team faced in his early years as principal when students used phones during school, and how he brought about a powerful transformation by having phones and smartwatches put away in locked pouches for the whole school day. In today’s blog, to raise awareness of the challenges, I share five real examples from Zach of the troubling ways students use phones at school to be unkind.
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It is with great pleasure that I share with you today a piece that Lisa Tabb and I did for Jonathan Haidt's (Author of The Anxious Generation) and researcher Zack Rausch's Substack blog — After Babel. In it, we discuss the rise in use of smartwatches in elementary schools and the problems they pose. There is a real cost to arming (pun intended) our kids with these devices and sending them to school. Now is the time to stop and fully address this topic and ensure that schools become smartwatch and phone-free.
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Today, I’m sharing an excerpt from the podcast we released yesterday because it really captures all the points I want to make in this blog. It covers the introduction to a conversation I had with a high school principal who made the bold decision, mid-year, to start locking away all smartphones, smartwatches and other devices during the school day, eliminating them from the learning environment. Learn how this went (spoiler: really well) in today’s blog and the full podcast episode.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
