UNC study: Uneven enforcement on school smartphone ban

Many North Carolina middle school students are still using their smartphones in class despite a new state law requiring public schools to ban device use during instructional time, according to new research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The study — which surveyed 2,299 middle school students and 293 teachers across 22 schools in six regions of the state — also found that school-issued laptops and tablets may be creating a separate distraction problem of their own.

“Young people’s digital technology use represents a major public health concern,” Dr. Kaitlyn Burnell, director of research at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Winston Center on Technology and Brain Development, told members of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on March 31. “There’s growing alarm about the negative effects of such use, especially in educational contexts, where teachers and administrators often report unregulated digital device use.”

The findings come three months after House Bill 959 — the Protecting Students in a Digital Age law — took effect Jan. 1. The new law requires all public school boards to adopt strict bans on smartphone use during instructional time. Every school in the study’s sample had such a policy in place by the time surveys were distributed in December.

But compliance and enforcement are uneven, according to the new study. Only 60% of students said they always follow their school’s device policy, and 37% reported their school only sometimes enforces it. Among the 81% of students who own a smartphone, 76% said they bring it to school every day. 

Thirty-four percent of students said they use workarounds to access content blocked by school filters or firewalls. The most common choice was gaming sites.

The initial focus of researchers was on personal smartphone use, but input from educators and parents prompted them to also examine Chromebook and laptop use, according to Burnell. The data showed that more students report being distracted by others’ school-issued devices than by personal phones. Students described bypassing firewalls to access gaming sites and using tools like Google Docs to chat with classmates instead of doing schoolwork.

“More students are reporting being distracted by other students’ school-issued devices than other students’ phone use or personal device use,” Burnell said.

Teachers also reported concerns, with more than half saying they experience at least some stress from managing device use during class. A majority reported that students are distracted by school-issued devices.

Lawmakers on the joint committee used the new research to question whether the existing policy goes far enough.

State Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Macon, raised the possibility of bell-to-bell restrictions, which would ban personal devices for the entire school day rather than only during instructional time.

Under current law, students are often permitted to use phones in homeroom, at lunch, and in hallways. Corbin said permitting phone use outside class but banning it during instruction creates a nearly impossible enforcement challenge.

“That’s very difficult to police when you start that,” he said.

State Rep. Heather Rhyne, R-Lincoln, pointed to the importance of local responsibility in enforcement.

“This is exactly why we have boards of education in local districts,” Rhyne said. “We’ve got to hold these boards of education accountable. They made the policy. They enforce the policy. We can’t at the state level try to enforce a policy that we’ve told local districts to make.”

State Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, cited a recent Los Angeles verdict finding Meta and YouTube negligent for social media harm to a student. He suggested school board members have new reason to take their own policies seriously.

“I would think school board members would be well advised to discuss with their attorney whether they might want to be a little cautious and enforce the policy,” he said.

The research team plans to conduct follow-up surveys in late spring and fall, with a final report and policy recommendations expected in winter 2026-27.

“UNC study: Uneven enforcement on school smartphone ban” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.