- House Education Committee votes unanimously to move so-called "No Cellphones in K-12 Classrooms" bill to the House floor.
- Senate Bill 178 allows for local schools or districts to craft their own classroom cellphone policy.
- Utah teens offering mixed responses to the cellphone/school bill.
Anna Clayton recently conducted a two-week personal experiment.
The Olympus High School junior deleted all her social media and left her cellphone in the car during school hours.
“What I found shocked me,” Clayton told the House Education Committee meeting Tuesday during its examination of the so-called “No Cellphones During Classtime” bill.
“I became hyper-aware of the addiction to my phone that had taken over my life.”
The teen added she is now enjoying conversations and school hallway interactions “that I had shielded myself from (while) using my phone.”
And without a cellphone perpetually within arm’s reach, Clayton is discovering new levels of peace.
Now Clayton is certain her peers would also benefit “from a break from our phones in school” — a sentiment obviously shared by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, the cellphone bill’s sponsor.
If ratified, Fillmore’s SB178 would make Utah’s primary and secondary classrooms “cellphone free zones” during classroom instruction periods — unless local schools or districts opt for a different policy.
The bill moved a pivotal step closer to becoming state statute Tuesday after committee members voted unanimously to advance it to the House Floor. Their counterparts in the Senate Education Committee took similar actions earlier this month.
SB178 essentially resets Utah’s “default” policy, which currently allows cellphone use whenever or wherever K-12 students want unless local districts or schools articulate a prohibitive policy.
If a school or district does not create their own customized policy, devices such as cellphones, smartwatches and “emerging technology” would be prohibited in classrooms during instruction period, according to the bill.
By modifying the state’s default policy, Fillmore argued, schools and districts can begin asking a more constructive cellphone/school question: “Instead of (schools and districts) asking, ‘How can we restrict these in order to limit the damage’ — it’s, ‘How can we use and integrate this technology to help our students thrive?’”
SB178, the sponsor emphasized, defers to local governance.
“Local school districts and school boards ought to be responsive to their students and their families and their taxpayers and their teachers — and they ought to be able to craft whatever policy they want,” he said.
In fact, the bill allows for schools and districts to say “anything goes” regarding cellphone use in K-12 classrooms.
“I think it would be stupid — and I would hope that that school board would face electoral consequences,” said Fillmore. “But I’m just trying to illustrate that this is not a proscriptive bill. It only changes the default.”
A former public school teacher and principal, Fillmore said today’s multifunctional cellphones are a toxic presence in K-12 classrooms.
Cellphone notifications are continually “tapping students on the shoulder” — distracting them from learning or connecting with fellow students and teachers. “This constant disruption is really rewiring kids’ brains,” he said.
Not surprisingly, the proposed state policy includes “carve-outs” for emergencies or crisis situations that might emerge during classroom instruction.
And students would still be allowed to use the devices during lunch period, recess, between class periods or during study hall — unless, again, local school districts decide otherwise.
Students answer the call
So how do Utah students feel about a state-legislated prohibition on cellphones in public school classrooms?
Depends on who you ask.
At Tuesday’s House committee meeting, Anna Clayton and other teens voiced support for SB178.
Avery Gonzalez is a senior high school student in the Cache County School District. Her class schedule includes concurrent-enrollment courses taught by instructors enforcing strict “no cellphones during classtime” rules.
“About a week into these strict rules, I realized I was able to stay focused for longer, learn better, and that I was overall less distracted,” said Gonzalez. “I’m just a happier human in general. I was also able to engage with meaningful conversations with my peers that otherwise I would just be sitting on social media.”
And recently, the Deseret News spoke to several students from Highland’s Lone Peak High School to gauge their response.
Lone Peak senior Taylor Hurley is not a fan of a broad cellphone prohibition. “Phones are helpful and they help people everyday.”
The devices are a boon during art and painting classes for sophomore Zoe Roos. She utilizes her phone’s search capabilities “to find inspiration” for her art assignments.
But she’s quick to add she doesn’t otherwise use her phone much in class outside of maybe sending an occasional text.
“For a lot of kids, the most distracting part of cellphones is when they are scrolling through their social media or stuff like that,” said Roos. “It’s not the communication parts (phone calls or texting) that are most distracting to kids.”
Senior Natalie Khankan, 17, offered a unique perspective on the debate.
A Syria native who has lived in Europe, Khankan is now a foreign exchange student at Lone Peak High.
“In Italy, we’re not allowed to use our phones,” she said. “So when I came here, I found out a lot of teachers didn’t really care if we used our phones. So a lot of people go on TikTok or Instagram.
“It can be really distracting — but, yes, sometimes our cellphones can be helpful,” said Khankan, adding she supports SB178.
Utah governor: Hang up in class
If Fillmore’s “No Cellphones During Class Sessions” bill is ratified and makes it to Spencer Cox’s desk, don’t expect Utah’s governor to interfere.
“Our children are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of cellphones,” wrote Cox in a Deseret News opinion piece last year. “That’s why I sent letters to our State Board of Education, district and charter school leaders, school principals and school community councils, urging them to restrict cellphones during class time.”
Cox emphasized in his 2024 opinion piece that he’s not advocating for a complete ban of cellphones in schools.
“But I am pushing schools and districts to work with parents to develop cellphone policies that will give every student the best environments to focus and learn — and I hope parents will advocate for phone-free instruction.”
The governor added that students perpetually on their phones at school diminishes their abilities to connect and make friends. “We need each other and school connections are great mental health protective factors.”