Full school day cell phone bans are more popular than ever

As schools across the country continue to implement cell phone bans, a new Pew Research Center survey shows they continue to gain support.

Seventy-seven percent of US adults support banning cell phones in middle and high school classes, and 48 percent support banning them for the entire school day. That’s the first time more Americans have supported, rather than opposed, so-called bell-to-bell bans. Two years ago, just 36 percent of American adults supported an all day ban.

Across all age groups over 18 that were surveyed, most respondents support in-class bans. That support is lower but still at least half for all-day bans across most age groups, except for ages 18-29, where support for a bell-to-bell ban drops to just 28 percent. Republicans were slightly more likely to favor both in-class and all-day bans, at 81 percent and 55 percent, respectively. But Democrats were also broadly supportive of in-class bans at 74 percent, and all-day bans at 44 percent.

More than 20 states havre already adopted bell-to-bell cell phone bans, and early studies show mixed impacts. One report found positive long-term effects on students’ well-being, but no evidence of an impact on test scores. Another found higher suspension rates in the first year of a ban, that later returned to normal levels, and a decrease in unexcused absences.