I'm a California teacher who thinks phone use in classrooms is a big problem. I'm not convinced a new law will solve it.

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom precocious signed Assembly Bill 3216, a rule to limit smartphone usage successful schools.
• California coach Joelle Clark said phones are a distraction and policies connected their usage tin beryllium difficult to enforce.
• Clark anticipates students will sneak instrumentality clip if allowed to person their phones connected them — but if schools fastener nan devices up, parents could kick complete information concerns.

This as-told-to effort is based connected a speech pinch Joelle Clark, a 28-year-old nationalist schoolhouse coach successful California, astir nan state's caller rule requiring schools to create a argumentation that limits smartphone usage by July 1, 2026. This effort has been edited for magnitude and clarity. Business Insider verified her personality and employment.

I'm a six-year teacher, and I thatch special-ed precocious schoolhouse students pinch mild to mean learning disabilities.

I precocious decided to return up recreation teaching. So, I moved out to California and I came into a schoolhouse wherever students are perpetually connected their phones. They show america it's coach discretion, truthful you spell into 1 people and there's a norm wherever you person to put your telephone successful a sleeve to get your attendance. But past successful nan adjacent class, location are nary rules.

I for illustration to beryllium a bully feline successful nan classroom. I don't for illustration to beryllium nan bad guy. I don't for illustration to beryllium nan 1 to say, "No, you can't person your phones," because, successful existent life, they do person their phones.

Now that it's a changeless point though, kids are cheating and utilizing their phones for truthful galore things that are conscionable not bully for learning. They're besides conscionable scrolling connected TikTok. I emotion scrolling too, truthful I get it. I spell location and walk astatine slightest an hr each nighttime scrolling. But waking up and scrolling and doing it each azygous hr of nan time is different.

It's difficult to clasp kids to immoderate benignant of telephone expectations because location are different expectations successful each people they spell into. Some kids are really awesome pinch it, but a batch of them will moreover return telephone calls from their parents and worldly for illustration that.

They'll beryllium like, "My mom's calling me." What americium I expected to do arsenic a coach if you person your parents calling you?

The caller rule whitethorn alteration things by forcing schools to adopt 1 argumentation alternatively of leaving it up to nan teachers — but I'm not judge it will lick nan issue.

Schools whitethorn person problem enacting telephone bans

When I first applied for jobs, I recovered this precocious schoolhouse successful Chicago wherever kids had to virtually put their phones successful lockers earlier they went done information to get into school. I ended up moving there and my students didn't person Airpods, Apple Watches, individual iPads, aliases individual laptops successful nan classroom. They could only person their schoolhouse Chromebooks, which blocked what they could spell connected extracurricular of schoolhouse stuff.

When kids were saturated aliases done pinch their assignments, they would interact pinch each other. Or, they would put their heads down aliases find a skill, whether that was drafting aliases journaling.

That's a measurement to negociate phones, but nan caller California rule includes a proviso that says students can't beryllium prohibited from utilizing their phones successful an emergency situation.

It would beryllium analyzable to get phones backmost to students successful those scenarios if a coach is keeping them down nan table aliases if they're stored successful lockers. If we return distant that access, I could spot parents opinionated extracurricular nan schoolyards erstwhile there's a lockdown.

I saw it hap successful Chicago erstwhile our students' phones were successful lockers and parents were extracurricular nan schoolhouse because each they wanted was their kids, and we couldn't get them because we were connected lockdown.

I'm not judge nan rule will alteration things

I don't spot a measurement to modulate cellphone usage among nan full student assemblage if nan phones are connected them. If students person entree to it, they're going to usage it, whether it's successful concealed aliases retired successful nan open.

Many schoolhouse districts already person a smartphone norm successful place. I consciousness for illustration each territory that teaches kids afloat knows this is simply a problem. Schools don't conscionable disregard it, they effort to enforce it, but conscionable because it's written successful a rule doesn't mean that it's going to beryllium followed.

That's benignant of what happens pinch almost everything successful school. We person a school-wide argumentation astir what students tin and cannot deterioration to school. I noticed nan first 2 weeks of schoolhouse that I was enforcing it and past realized that nary 1 other was, truthful I was like, OK, I'm not going to enforce it either.

I don't cognize what nan correct solution is. Maybe we should beryllium school students patient habits pinch their phones because that's what nan existent world has to do. Maybe we should person a people connected phones to thatch kids patient habits and nan threat of media.

I person kids who are connected their phones almost each time toward nan extremity of nan people play because they worked for 30 consecutive minutes. I powerfully judge that if you activity for that long, you should get a reward successful immoderate way.

In 2024 we're moving toward a telephone generation. We person our phones connected america perpetually successful nan workplace — and I deliberation we request to study to thief kids negociate their phones.