Discussion

• @richardhanania Richard Hanania on x

  This is woefully incomplete. There was a major positive effect on subjective well being in the years after phone bans. This helps the case for bans!

• @rizomaschool Ashley Fitzgerald on x

  literally every teacher I know says ban phones there are qualitative effects that don't show up immediately on standardized tests you SPREADSHEET BRAINS

• @didactickatydid Naguib Mahfouzball on x

  The past 2 years that my school has enforced a cell ban have provided such a vastly better in-classroom experience (for both kids & teachers) I would leave the profession if they came back. I can't understand how ppl like Lorenz convince themselves phones aren't destructive.

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  Another big study on cell phone bans finds that “average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero.” There is no evidence banning phones had any significant effect on school attendance, classroom attention, or perceived online bullying. https://marginalrevolution.com/…

• @wfenza @wfenza on x

  The fact that everyone is interpreting this study to say that phone bans are useless, despite the fact that the study shows a clear positive effect on student well being, tells you everything you need to know about the priorities we have for schools

• @drantbradley Anthony Bradley on x

  I don't trust this at all. This seems like a planned campaign to discredit @JonHaidt, @jean_twenge, and other scholars calling for bans. It's ridiculous to expect overnight test score and achievement results when it took about 14 years to create the current mess we're in.

• @pfinanceblogs @pfinanceblogs on x

  @mattyglesias Who cares about test scores when kids are telling us how unhappy they are? Removing phones improves that and its going to help them with long term success.

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  The only benefit of banning phones was a long-term increase in student well-being which seems like a sufficient reason to do it.

• @dilanesper Dilan Esper on x

  the funny thing about this debate is that anyone who has been around someone distracted by their phone for 5 seconds knows why they should be banned in schools

• @semafor @semafor on x

  School phone bans get devices out of students' hands, but led to no improvement in discipline or test scores, a large-scale study found. Thousands of US schools require students to put phones in locked pouches; the researchers observed the impact over three years, compared to

• @langerhans_isle Al Bumin on x

  @mattyglesias I don't understand what compels people to defend letting kids bring their distraction machines into class. Even if the harm is minimal, what is the benefit? Or are they just trying to own the cons?

• @justinhendrix Justin Hendrix on bluesky

  “Still, teachers have been thrilled with the change, reporting fewer distractions from personal cellphone use.  Over time, students in schools with strict bans reported a greater sense of personal well-being.”

• @biblioracle John Warner on bluesky

  I think it's clear that phones in class are a barrier to learning, but anyone who argued getting rid of them would unleash achievement was peddling a fiction.  If we want students engaged we have to go deeper into the experiences of learning. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/u...