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Say you're a middle school principal who has just confiscated a cell phone from a 14-year-old boy, only to discover it contains a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend. Do you: a) call the boy's parents in despair, b) call the girl's parents in despair, or c) call the police? More and more, the answer is d) all of the above. Which could result in criminal charges for both of your students and their eventual designation as sex offenders.

"Overall, 68% of U.S. adults say they support a ban on middle and high school students using cellphones during class, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2024. This includes 45% who strongly support this."

"High school teachers are especially likely to see cellphones as problematic. About seven-in-ten (72%) say that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom, compared with 33% of middle school teachers and 6% of elementary school teachers."

A balanced overview of this debate from CoSN's conference. in Edtech Magazine. "In reality, Lapus shared, kids check their phones 52 times per day on average and spend an average of 43 minutes on their phones at school, according to research from Common Sense Media. These numbers don't paint a complete picture, however. There are the subsequent effects of children's cellphone use to consider, as well as the ramifications of taking devices away."