We’re nearly 90 days into the 2025-26 school year, and teachers across North Texas say the state’s new ban on cellphones in class is already paying dividends. Students are more attentive, less distracted, and have acclimated well to the change, several educators told me last week.
For parents, though, the shift is a mixed bag. The unease of not being able to reach their children during the day has taken some getting used to. So have hold drills — emergencies such as fights or medical incidents that stop short of full lockdowns.
“There have been a couple of these recently, and not being able to reach my kids right away to make sure they’re OK has been unsettling,” said a Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD teacher who has teens in high school and asked that her name not be used.
“That said, my high schoolers actually haven’t complained much about the ban, which has been a pleasant surprise. While I understand and support the intent behind the policy, as a parent, that reassurance of quick communication still means a lot.”
For teachers, banning phones and other electronic devices in the classroom has been a welcome change. It’s tough to teach when students have their heads buried in screens. About half of U.S. students ages 12 to 17 spend more than four hours a day on their phones, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That includes about 90 minutes during school, according to a separate study published in JAMA Pediatrics. But what those numbers don’t show are the relentless notifications — hundreds of nudges each day from social apps and group chats. Even when phones aren’t in use, they still compete for attention.
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Though schools have discretion in how the ban is applied — some use signal-blocking magnetic pouches, while others rely on students to keep them stowed away — compliance hasn’t been an issue. The transition has, however, revealed just how addictive the technology has become.
“Students are more fidgety and have been requesting to go drink some water or go to the restrooms more often,” said a foreign-language teacher at Fort Worth ISD, who requested anonymity. “They say they do not understand this new law and why it was necessary. However, they are adjusting well and getting used to it.”
As a parent, I never doubted the positive impact a phone ban could have on learning. But I share the concerns of some parents I talked to earlier in the year who wondered if the change came at the wrong time — a moment when parents’ trust in institutions, especially schools, is fragile.
With the tragedy at Camp Mystic still fresh and the Uvalde mass shooting leaving a permanent imprint on Texans’ minds, parents have reason to question any policy that makes communication harder during the school day.
Still, what I heard from parents of late was not anger but relief — relief that their children are free from constant distraction and, perhaps more important, from the cruelty that too often thrives online. Less time on TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat means fewer opportunities for cyberbullying, a growing fear for parents of teens.
Experts like Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation and one of the leading advocates for school phone bans, caution that such policies are only a start. Haidt’s recommendations are far more stringent: no smartphones before 14, no social media before 16, phone-free schools and more unstructured free play.
I agree with him, having seen firsthand how addictive technology can be while working with tech clients. But friends and family often look at me like I have two heads when I say so. “Baby steps,” they tell me.
Educators aren’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. Even small progress feels monumental.
“It was a real struggle [before the ban],” the Fort Worth ISD teacher said. “Cellphones were constantly on students’ minds and were a huge distraction. They’d take them out every two minutes for any and all reasons. It was rough to get their attention back on the lesson.”
The phone ban may not fix everything — no single policy can — but it’s given classrooms something rare: quiet. In that quiet, teachers are finding focus. Students are rediscovering attention. And parents, even the uneasy ones, are remembering what it’s like to trust the process.