*** Article updated on 2025-02-05 *** CAVEAT: As subject matter experts in the areas of digital literacy and internet safety, we are often asked about our opinion on the use of cellphones in schools. We acknowledge the fact that we are not school teachers or principals who have to deal with this issue on a daily basis. However, having presented to over 645,000 youth, thousands of teachers, and hundreds of principals we have a fairly good understanding of the challenges and concerns they are confronted with specific to this issue. This article is written based upon our interactions with teachers, principals, and students combined with the good academic research we have found and reviewed in the preparation of this article. In today’s digitally connected world, the presence of cellphones in classrooms has become a contentious issue. Parents, educators, policymakers, and students themselves are all engaged in a debate about the role of mobile devices in the learning environment. On one hand, cellphones are seen as distractions that hinder student performance, disrupt classrooms, and divert attention from instruction and should be banned (33). On the other hand, they can also serve as powerful tools for accessing information, enhancing engagement, and fostering critical thinking skills. In this article, we will discuss the multifaceted aspects of this debate, examining the possible negative effects, broader context, and potential solutions for integrating cellphones into the classroom effectively if a school chooses to do so. Disruption, Distraction, & Shifting Attention: One of the most frequently cited concerns regarding cellphones in classrooms is their negative impact on student performance. The constant pinging of notifications, the allure of social media, and the temptation to multitask can erode students’ focus, recall, and comprehension. It is not uncommon to hear anecdotes of students surreptitiously texting under their desks or scrolling through their Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok feeds, or having earphones in their ears during class time. By doing so, students often find themselves shifting their attention between the teacher and their screens, which can lead to a fragmented learning experience. Anecdotally, we have also heard from many teachers and principals that often parents and caregivers are partly to blame when it comes to distraction given their need to text or call their child during school hours. This fragmented attention can hinder a student’s ability to absorb and retain information effectively. There is research to support that distractions can impede the learning process and disrupt the flow of instruction. (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) However, it should be noted that the outcomes of “some” of this research is rather unimpressive. In one study, students who “used their phones at all” during class showed only a slight difference of 0.36 grade points compared to those who refrained from phone usage (1). Similarly, another study revealed a mere 0.07 improvement in standardized test scores after the implementation of phone bans.(4) We have seen some groups pointing to the 2019 Garza classroom experiment where students were instructed to turn on their phones, deactivate silent mode, place the phone on their desk, and record any notifications received during class on a flip chart to provide proof positive of the level of distraction caused by phones in a classroom. The surprising results, purportedly highlighted the extent of distractions caused by cellphones in educational settings. But before jumping to conclusions, it’s essential to scrutinize the experiment’s true validity – something we wrote about here (34) Another argument that is pushed – according to a 2017 study titled “Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity,” there’s an argument that smartphones can impact our attention and focus, even when not in use (6). Advocates of this research often emphasize that merely having a cellphone nearby, without active usage, can disrupt learning and thus, underscores the importance of keeping phones out of schools. Fascinating, particularly considering that the Ward et al 2017 research seemingly backs the “Brain Drain” hypothesis. Yet, what about this 2023 research paper ,”Does the Mere Presence of a Smartphone Impact Cognitive Performance? A Meta-Analysis of the “Brain Drain Effect” (7) that delved deeper into the Ward et al 2017 study and discovered: “While the brain drain hypothesis is intuitively appealing, as the evidence synthesized in this Meta-analysis suggests, there is mixed empirical support for the idea that the mere presence of a smartphone can negatively impact cognitive performance. The pooled effect for four of the five cognitive domains is null and, while the effect is consistent with the claim for WM its magnitude is far smaller than early seminal work. Overall, the current meta-analysis dampens support for the general claim that the mere presence of a smartphone can negatively impact cognitive performance and provides only limited support for the brain drain hypothesis…” This is also supported in this 2024 study (35) involving Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States which found: “the mere presence of a smartphone had no significant effect on cognitive outcomes. Further, the effect of the mere presence of a smartphone was not moderated by demographics, trait smartphone dependency, or various methods for manipulating smartphone presence and assessing cognitive outcomes. These findings indicate that there is little reason at present to think that complete isolation from smartphones in a work environment would improve productivity and performance.“ It should also be noted that other research has also found “no impact of mobile phone bans on student performance and can reject even small-sized gains.”(8)  Another review of 132 academic studies found, “difficult to determine directions and mechanisms of the causal relations between mobile phone multitasking and academic performance.” (9) This 2018 Norweigion study found no significant effect of implementation of a mobile phone ban on academic results or well-being. (10) There is also this 2023 study at a Swedish school that implemented a blanket ban of all cellphones and found that this policy has had negative pedagogical consequences and therefore replaced the ban with a more balanced approach to the use in classrooms (11) In an Aug 2022 study titled, “Effects … Continue reading Some Thoughts about Cellphones in Classrooms