According to the Pew Research Center, your child’s smartphone could be a major distraction in the classroom, depending on the policies in place. The polling data was spotlighted earlier this month after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced proposed legislation to ban smartphones in schools, citing the impact of social media and technology on youth. According to the survey, 72 percent of high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem. Those numbers dwindle as the students age and may not have a smartphone, with 33 percent of middle school teachers and six percent of elementary school principals agreeing that it is a major problem. More than eighty percent of K-12 teachers say their school or district has a cellphone policy with varying degrees of severity. Gibraltar Secondary School Principal Jim DeBroux says their policy is likely more lenient than other schools in the area. Students are allowed to carry them but not use them in the classroom unless they are prompted to do so. He says they do not experience as many problems with students abusing their cellphone policies as you would think, but he says it is a conversation he has with his teachers regularly.

Luxemburg-Casco Middle School made local headlines last fall when they adopted a new policy forcing students to leave their smart devices in their lockers for the entire day. The “Away for the Day” pilot program the school implemented complemented research that shows that kids tend to do better with phones away during school hours. Principal Todd Chandler said then that it was a steep learning curve for the eighth graders but a smooth transition for the seventh graders who may not have had their devices on them last year.

While teachers say smartphone use in the classroom is a major distraction, the same study showed that 45 percent of students ages 13-17 would argue that smartphones make it easier for people their age to do well in school compared to the 23 percent who say it makes it harder.