In the 2025-2026 school year, New York became the largest state to ban cell phone use in schools. Governor Kathy Hochul’s law, part of the state budget, prohibits personal device use from bell to bell. Schools received $13.5 million in funding for storage solutions, while parents were assured ways to reach their children. The policy grew out of Hochul’s report, More Learning, Less Scrolling, which argues that phones and social media distract from learning and the school community.
As the end of September approaches, this law has been in place in our school for a month. Right when the first bell rings at 8:00 am, personal devices must be at home or stored in a locker. As one enters Ossining High School, goes through the gym entrance, and scans their ID, one sees no cell phones around; students are talking amongst themselves or walking to class. However, once the last bell rings at 2:44 pm, cell phones storm out of students’ backpacks and are in use while walking to school, going to practice, or a club meeting.
After a month of the ban at Ossining High School, students have started forming their own opinions about its impact. Agatha Reid, in 9th grade, a 10th grader who wishes to remain anonymous, Matthew Ponnaiya, in 11th grade, and Carter Simkins, in 12th grade, give their opinion on this issue:
What are your thoughts on the new school phone ban?
Agatha Reid – I feel fifty-fifty on it. I can understand why they would ban phones, but I disagree with it.
Anonymous 10th Grader – There’s definitely some pros and cons to it. But I think that overall it’s doing more good than bad.
Matthew Ponnaiya – I think that the new school phone ban really has no effect. There should be no reason why I can’t watch Instagram reels in my free time. I guess it applies to the classroom setting, but no one is really on their phone anyway, and the teachers can enforce that easily. It really just doesn’t have an effect at all.
Carter Simkins – I see how the school board could use it as a method of keeping kids engaged, but I’m not a huge fan of it. I like to use it to check my portfolio, as well as using it to share stuff from my other Google account to the other. Using it as a tool is nice.
Do you think student academic life has improved?
Agatha Reid – Honestly, I feel like it has because it makes you pay attention more since it’s full-on banned. I think it might positively impact the school.
Anonymous 10th Grader – I think it definitely helped me a bit, because I have a lot of off-periods, and if I had my phone, I definitely would not have gotten as much school work done.
Matthew Ponnaiya – Well, like I said, I don’t really think it has really changed. Everyone is still on their phones, everyone still has their phones with them, and it really is not doing anything, so there hasn’t been any effect.
Carter Simkins – No, if anything, restricting the phone ban has made us kind of eager to use it more. Thus resulting in I think more rebellious acts.
What challenges or drawbacks to the ban do you anticipate or have already observed?
Agatha Reid – Kids can still sneak in their phones in class. I feel like it would be easier if people would put their phones at the front of the class instead of them being confiscated, so you can still use them during off-periods and in between periods.
Anonymous 10th Grader – Usually, I’d be able to communicate with my friends who are all the way across the building, so we can coordinate going off together. Also, accessing certain things like photos, if I need to add them to my project, like how we do with the All About Me’s. But other than that, it’s really not that bad.
Matthew Ponnaiya – I think it’s completely unenforceable to monitor what like sixteen-hundred kids in this school and having their phones on them at all times. The only thing that I can see is not having personal devices like MacBooks and such in the classroom, but even then, people also have them anyway.
Carter Simkins – Overall, just taking all the phones is definitely tricky. A lot of people have been taking it, I’ve gotten my phone taken the second day of school, which was hard, cause I was on it in the library, but I digress. I think trying to manage everyone using it in between classes and on off-periods I think was a big one. I get that there are no phones in class, but during an off period, that’s my time.
Do you agree or disagree with the phone ban?
Agatha Reid – I can see the pros and the cons, but for the most part, I would say that I disagree with it.
Anonymous 10th Grader – I agree, honestly, I agree.
Matthew Ponnaiya – I disagree. I don’t think that it’s doing anything to the students, I don’t think that teachers are enforcing it, and I don’t think the security guards are enforcing it.
Carter Simkins – I’d say I’m in the middle, but I would disagree.
With some students feeling more focused, others frustrated, and many still finding ways around the rules, it remains to be seen whether the phone ban will deliver the “distraction-free schools” Governor Hochul envisioned, or whether it will simply shift the ways students engage with technology during the school day. What are your thoughts on the new school phone ban? Do you disagree or agree with it, and should the ban still be enforced?
References
“Cell Phone and Electronic Device Policy.” NYC DOE, https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/policies/cell-phone-and-electronic-device-policy. Accessed 28 September 2025.
Hochul, Kathy. “Distraction-Free Schools: Governor Hochul Announces New York to Become Largest State in the Nation With Statewide, Bell-to-Bell Restrictions on Smartphones in Schools.” Governor.NY.GOV, 6 May 2025, https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/distraction-free-schools-governor-hochul-announces-new-york-become-largest-state-nation. Accessed 28 September 2025.
Hochul, Kathy. “Eliminating Distractions in New York Schools | Governor Kathy Hochul.” Governor.NY.GOV, https://www.governor.ny.gov/programs/eliminating-distractions-new-york-schools. Accessed 28 September 2025.
