Schools are wrestling with how to manage students and their cellphones — devices that can aid student learning or distract from it, and at their worst, provoke violence.
Students have recorded video of fights breaking out at Brockton High School and lunchroom brawls in Revere, posting them on social media to gain popularity or antagonize an enemy.
Now Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has proposed a statewide ban on cellphones in schools under the STUDY Act, short for “Safe Technology Use and Distraction-free education for Youth.”
Campbell also released a set of cellphone policy recommendations for school leaders on Thursday at the Association of Superintendents winter meeting.
“There’s no template, there’s no policy, there’s no standard that’s statewide” for student cellphone use, Campbell told NBC10 News . “The STUDY Act is designed to change that.”
The toolkit , created by the attorney general’s office in partnership with the Shah Family Foundation, offers information about a “bell-to-bell” cellphone policy for schools, as well as policies used by various districts cited as models. The guidelines include information about how schools can teach students to navigate problems related to social media and the distractions it can cause.
Almost all teenagers have their own smartphone, and up to 95% of teenagers ages 13-17 use social media, the report said, “with over one-third reporting that they use it ‘almost constantly.’”
The U.S. surgeon general issued a “Social Media and Youth Mental Health” advisory in 2023, noting that despite some benefits for some youth, the current body of evidence demonstrates that social media use poses a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.
The Shah Family Foundation’s Ross Wilson, a former educator, said there used to be a sense that social media was “outside” the school environment, but that sentiment has changed in recent years amid widespread student declines on testing and other problems related to social media and bullying.
“It’s so pervasive that school districts have no choice but to address social media usage,” Wilson said. “That’s what it’s really about, helping young people understand social media, both the benefits of social media and the potential pitfalls, helping them understand how their information may be used and shared. All of these things are really important, and they are now part of our educational system.”
Not all parents will be on board with the idea of a “bell-to-bell” ban. The National Parents Union released a poll last year showing that a majority of parents want their children to have access to their cellphone during the school day, with some limitations.
Fifty-six percent of parents surveyed said students should sometimes be allowed to use their cellphones in school, such as during lunch or at athletic events. Eighty-three percent of parents supported a minimum age limit on when kids should be allowed to have a social media account.
While parents expressed concern about the negative effects of social media, parents also wanted to be able to get in touch with a students in case of an emergency or to have a cellphone to coordinate transportation to and from school.
