In the summer of 2025, Arkansas passed a statewide cell phone ban in schools. Act 122, “Bell to Bell, No Cell” states that students generally cannot use personal electronic devices during the school day, from the first bell until the last bell. This includes class time, passing periods, lunch, and other activities during the school day. So, after teaching during this first year of the law being in effect, I wanted to share some of my experiences and some reactions from other teachers and students.
Firstly, here is a recap of the restrictions. The law doesn’t just disallow cell phones. It covers way more! Smartwatches, wireless earbuds/headphones, tablets, personal laptops, and portable gaming devices are all included as items no longer allowed in schools. There are exceptions for documented health needs or when listed in an IEP or 504 plan.
The goal of this act was to reduce classroom distractions, improve student focus, reduce social-media-related bullying, and have more of a consistent policy statewide.
Each school district was given the freedom to enforce the law however they want, but each district is required to have a policy stating how they will comply with the law. Our district’s policy included a pouch assigned to each student that was intended to hold the students’ cell phones. The pouch locked and blocked the signal to the phone. As teachers, we were not required to make sure the phone was in the pouch, but if we saw a student with a phone, we could require the student to put it in their pouch. In my experience, these were a waste of resources because no students used them. On the first day of school, I had one student unlock their pouch at the end of the day and that was the only time I ever saw a pouch in use.
Positives:
Overall, I appreciate the law and its intended goals. I am thankful for the ability to teach without the competition of cell phones. Students relied on other forms of entertainment and socialization during downtime when they normally would pick up their phones. There was more conversation between classes and during collaborative work time, when before they may have taken those opportunities to check their messages. Lunch was fun and very conversation-heavy. Students ate lunch in my classroom and I had windows to the courtyard. Students played football, frisbee, and of course, the new obsession for 2026…the hacky sack. (Side note- I do wonder if the hacky sack trend was reborn out of the need to keep busy while they hung with friends. Much like my need to scroll while I watch TV.)
Another positive is that the policy comes from above my level. There were fewer arguments about the rule because it wasn’t coming from me. It wasn’t just me enforcing a classroom policy or even a school policy. I could point to a law, and that really did give the policy more weight.
Negatives:
Unfortunately, there is still an addiction to phones and devices, and this has not cured it. I mean, we didn’t think it would. I am just clarifying that it’s still a real problem. However, it may not be what one would expect. I hardly EVER saw a phone. Students were rarely sneaking their phones out to scroll apps or watch videos. The overwhelming problem was the use of AirPods. Which means they were using their phones to play music, but they generally kept that out of sight. The biggest issue I had was students hiding (or blatantly not hiding) their AirPods. Other devices that students were more likely to bring were their personal laptops. There were several reasons they tried to justify this, but they were definitely using iMessage to text during class.
Another negative is that because it wasn’t just my classroom policy, I had to follow the school’s protocol for writing it up. It was more black and white, so I couldn’t just give the gentle reminder. Even when I did not have the time to follow protocol, I had to take the class time to do it.
STUDENT FEEDBACK:
I surveyed students and the majority said either that “It was alright,” or “It went well.” Some comments they added were:
- i think people still snuck it around and they didn’t enforce the yondr pouches
- DIDNT really affect me
- I really didnt like it. It really made me feel like we didnt have any freedom.
- wasn’t really inforced, I mean they kept us off our phones but never really made us use the yondr pouches. I think the no cell phones are good because it keeps us enganged in class and interested but at the same time sometimes it can be a bit stressfull when your just trying to check things like your messages in class when were doing nothing and you have a strict teacher.
Excuse their grammar and spelling mistakes. And mine, too, while we are at it. ;)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
In conclusion, I am thankful for and support the passing of the cell phone ban in schools. It was a good move in the right direction. And it may take some time to get students broken of the habit that school is a place for phones, but I hope that the habits trend in that direction and not in the direction of students finding more creative ways to sneak the phones and AirPods. If your school or state is planning to implement something similar, I hope it goes well for you and your students. If they already have, did you see similar results to mine? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
Or if you would like to read more thoughts on classroom operations and efficiency, check out all my blog posts here.
