Overview
- Michigan’s House approved a revised measure 99–10 requiring districts to prohibit student smartphone use during instructional time, allowing basic phones and medically necessary or district-owned devices, with an emergency-use provision tied to a Senate bill and an effective date targeted for the 2026–27 school year.
- North Carolina’s House Bill 959 is now in force, barring students from using, displaying, or having phones turned on during instructional time, authorizing confiscation, mandating instruction on social media risks, and requiring state reporting on noncompliant districts.
- A peer‑reviewed JAMA study found teens spend an average of about 70 minutes on smartphones during the school day, with nearly 30 minutes on social media.
- At least 33 states and the District of Columbia now require districts to ban or restrict student cellphone use, with several legislatures working to expand or standardize policies.
- In England, Dorset Council issued guidance urging phone‑free school days and advising families to delay smartphones until at least age 14, recommending basic “brick” phones for travel and reasonable adjustments for medical or safeguarding needs.