It’s a problem that any teacher who has taught since the beginning of cell phones has faced. You’re teaching a class and you look out to a classroom filled with students staring down at their laps instead of paying attention to what they should be learning. It’s no mystery what they are doing as they are either texting, posting on social media, playing games, or even shopping.
Individual schools/districts try to institute cell phone policies which require phones to be put away as soon as students enter the classroom. This put the onus on the classroom teacher to keep reminding students to put phones away or else get disciplinary action. And which teacher hasn’t had to struggle with a kid to take his/her phone away, not to mention the parents of that child who will take their kid’s side in the argument.
At any rate, the problem of cell phones, whether as a distraction or a huge time waster, has hurt the academic progress of students throughout the country. Educators say that cell phone usage has also encouraged bullying and violence in the schools. Anyone who has been online can testify to the school fights posted there by students recording them on cell phones.
In 2020 over 77% of schools in the country banned cellphone usage. However, 97% of students report that they use their cellphones during the school day.
Some states, counties and districts are doing something about it. From Forbes: Cellphone Bans In Schools Grow: Virginia Plans Classroom Restrictions (msn.com)
Phones can be a great resource to search for info pertinent to the class at teacher request.
Much, much more common is total waste of time by student completely off-topic. Makes the time I/we spent playing tic-tac-toe and battleship look scholarly.
Finding a happy medium between students squandering their time and wasting our instructional dollars is a challenge. Like the shoe pocket storage in the classroom approach. The phone is stored out of reach but can be accessed as directed.