Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed an executive order on July 2 requiring a statewide cellphone ban in all K–12 public schools. Its goal is to create a welcoming school environment with minimal distractions and increased engagement, Kotek said.
According to the directive, which bypassed earlier legislative failure in the state senate, policies must be adopted by Oregon schools before Oct. 31, then fully implemented by January.
“This is more of a surface-level fix rather than a real preventative measure at the root of the problem,” said Matt Fox, a visual design teacher at Bend Senior High School.
Fox and other critics argue that the ban misses the real problems, such as the youths’ addiction to their phones and lack of a solid attention span. They explain that developing digital relationships and media literacy is necessary before the bans are established.
According to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, the average person’s attention span has decreased from two and a half minutes to just 47 seconds over the last 20 years. This shift has impacted how students are able to learn, making it harder to understand complex topics or connect ideas.
Some Oregon schools, like Bend’s Cascade Middle School, have already enacted bans. Fox noted that students with prior exposure to phone-free days struggle less with devices in high school.
“Freshmen who have had cellphone bans in middle school have less of an issue with phones,” he explained.
Schools that have enacted similar bans have also found positive results, reflected by increasing engagement and social interaction. But educators like Fox are concerned about the lack of students’ involvement in these decisions.
“I don’t like the idea of kids being on their phones during lunch and passing periods, not interacting and not being human,” said Fox. “But we didn’t ask students about this, there was a real lack of student voice in how this was structured.”
When students were asked about how this order will impact their upcoming year, they expressed worries surrounding necessary communication with their peers and parents.
“I rely on my phone for communication related to club meetings, sports and other school activities,” said Kira Woodford, a rising senior at Bend Senior High School. “I think it’ll be really difficult to have the same quality in my extracurricular activities without the ability to message my peers.”
While students like Woodford worry about this policy’s practical application, educators like Fox point out that it misses the opportunity to teach students about real life responsibility.
“We’re not preparing students for the real world,” Fox said. “You need a chance to practice cellphone restriction with some guardrails in play, but not like this, where you can’t have phones at all.”
Even in Fox’s visual design classes, phones are necessary to make calls to organize meetings, send emails and even to download images onto the school’s computers.
Fox also points to a problem beyond the classroom: the need to replace the entertainment and social connection that cellphones give students. He worries that if we suddenly rob them of this support, we will see a rise in mental health-related issues.
“We need to have more time to socialize and play games, like open gym and recess,” said Fox. He strongly recommends that the schools give screen-free alternatives that will drive social connection.
But others, like Dr. Jared Conney, a neuroscientist and author, applauded Governor Kotek’s bold action.
“Once phones are gone, schools gain the equivalent of one to six extra hours of instructional time per week,” Conney said. “Students are more focused, teachers are more engaged, and everyone is more connected.”
Time will tell if this research rings true in Oregon schools.