The days of texting back a friend, playing a game, or scrolling through social media after completing classwork are over at MHS—a new ban is being implemented for the second semester. The Huron Valley School Board approved a measure in late November that will regulate personal electronic device use during class, with some exceptions. Although this may seem drastic for some students, the School Board has made this decision with the best of intentions in mind.
“We will see students interacting with one another more, more socially engaged in person as opposed to behind a screen, more time and attention on task, resulting in greater learning because they won’t be as distracted by their devices, and more engaged in classroom discussion,” said HVS Superintendent Dr. Paul Salah. He noted the board will measure the success of the new policy by surveying teachers and reviewing student academic achievement after the policy change.
How the Policy was Developed
Starting in October 2024, administrators began discussing this idea with reading “The Anxious Generation,” a top selling book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt that argues the increased reliance on phones has led to higher levels of anxiety, mental health challenges, and a lack of attentiveness in school. Seeing other districts and states take action on the issue of phones prompted Huron Valley to begin discussions.
“The administration took four months to read [the book] entirely, until we had a board study session,” Salah said. A board study session consists of Salah and the seven board members discussing new policies and how they will be implemented. In February 2025, the board met and discussed the book’s message and other districts’ cell phone restrictions. Salah said, “We talked about what those school districts were doing and why they were making those decisions. For the book, we talked about anxiety, declining mental health, and effects from an instructional perspective.” The board then asked Salah in April to survey parents, students, and staff with a variety of questions related to phone use in school. After some time, the survey’s results showed overwhelming favorability from parents and staff, as well as students, indicating that some type of phone restriction was necessary.
“We reported the findings to the board, and we decided to launch a pilot at Harbor High School with a full cell phone ban, which started at the beginning of the school year,” Salah described. After six to eight weeks, teachers reported a significant increase in time and attention to teaching and learning, tasks, and social interactions. “With these findings, we went to the board and decided to draft some guidelines for a more restrictive approach to cell phone use starting the second semester,” Salah clarified.
Safety and Emergency Concerns
One of the largest concerns of parents about the restricted phone use in school is that students can’t contact anyone during an emergency. But phones have proven to be more harmful than helpful in crises. As Salah explained, “When you have a thousand students all with phones during a crisis, all trying to call 911, what happens is the principal, the teachers, the people who are responsible for the students have greater difficulty getting into dispatch with 911. You might have a few people working, but not enough to answer 1,000 calls.”
Allowing for teachers and other trusted adults who all have access to phones and have been trained to handle crises is better. Salah said, “If there were a crisis, the last thing we want is for students to be taking out their phones and trying to contact emergency services; we want the adults in those situations to be making the phone calls. If you were to talk with the Oakland County Sheriff, they can affirm what I mentioned, that it is more problematic to receive a thousand calls, through their dispatch, rather than a few trusted adults.”
Enforcement at Milford High School
Phones have been a major part of Milford High School culture, and now, with phones being banned in class, noticeable changes can be expected in the classroom setting. The future phone ban is expected to look like what certain teachers have already implemented: a system where teachers collect their students’ phones and leave them in a phone carrier for the hour, or students can keep their phones in their lockers. This also goes for any smartwatches, earbuds, or communication devices. This will be effective for the entire school day, excluding passing periods and lunch, meaning students will not be allowed to have their phones during seminar. Milford High School will present the policy to students in January, which states that any prohibited personal electronic device visible during class will result in confiscation and submission to the office, and will require a parent to pick up the device. There will be a series of escalating punishments for repeated offenders. As stated by Milford High School Principal Kevin McKenna, “If a student is caught with their phone, the teacher is expected to confiscate it, and the student is expected to hand it over. From there, it would be sent to the office and locked up until their parent picks it up.” McKenna continued to explain the repercussion system of the ban: “What we don’t want to happen is a recurring issue of a student having their devices out, so after multiple times in a given time period, the student can receive detentions or suspensions.” The repercussions featured in this ban are undoubtedly steep, but the goal is to prevent students from breaking the ban as much as possible.
Benefits of a Phone-Free Classroom
While banning phones in class may seem like only a negative, there are apparent benefits to it. The primary reason for the ban on phones in class is to create the most optimal learning environment for students, as phones have become an obstacle to this. Another reason for the ban is to help high school students develop responsible phone use habits, so they can manage their phone use effectively before entering college or future employment. Phones being removed from the learning environment can allow students to more easily focus on the lesson at hand. Reflecting on middle school, there was a high level of engagement among students, partly because students weren’t allowed to have their phones during class. And this, out of all things, is part of the reason why phones were banned: to increase the school spirit and engagement. Teachers are largely in support of the ban. Spanish Teacher Carrie Hope, a teacher who has had the equivalent of the phone ban initiated for all 26 years she has been teaching, said, “What I find, since I essentially already do this, is that, in general, students actually talk to each other’s faces.” Hope continues, “Unfortunately, the research is extraordinarily detailed, and teen anxiety, teen depression, and teen disconnect have all skyrocketed since everybody got a phone in their pocket. Their attention span was also much longer before having phones.” Hope’s longstanding policy supports a district-wide ban and helps demonstrate that such a plan can be effective in the first place.
Student Opposition to the Ban
While these benefits are acknowledged, many students oppose the ban. As stated by Senior Michael Yee, “I think they should start it in a new school year; it would be hard to implement it in the middle of the school year when everyone is already set in.” Senior Lindsey Mitchell also mentioned, “If a student finishes their work early, it isn’t fair for them to just sit there; they could be doing other stuff.” Implementing a rule that opposes the habits that everyone has built over the years will change how students behave. Yee explained that students should be more in charge of their phones by saying, “Once you reach a certain age in high school, it’s up to you if you want to learn the topic or not, where if you don’t care about the topic, you aren’t going to learn it regardless of having your phone.” In the eyes of the students, what should be done is a higher restriction on phone usage, where as long as your phone isn’t out when the teacher is lecturing, you should be allowed to have it. Students also believe this policy will result in frustration for students. “Students will be in a bad mood and overall annoyed,” Mitchell said.
Survey Results and Student Reactions
Earlier in the school year, students in leadership participated in a week-long challenge where they turned in their phones for the entire day. Mitchell, who participated in this challenge, said, “In leadership, going without a phone for a week, there was no difference in what I did every day: it was the same.” 91% of students in HVS agree with Mitchell’s sentiments, reporting in a survey that they agree or strongly agree that cell phones and social media have had positive impacts. 51% disagree that cell phones have been linked to lower academic performance.
Behavior and Discipline Debate
The ban on phones can also be viewed as a negative, as it may lead to more misbehavior. “It can increase negative behavior because if students aren’t on their phone, they will just be bored and they will do something else, whether it be good or bad,” Yee said. Hope disagreed with this idea, noting that “students are more well-behaved when they aren’t on their phone because they aren’t distracted; they are focused on the task at hand.”
Teacher and Phone Expectations
With the ban, though, not only are students expected to be off their devices, but teachers as well. As McKenna said, “Adults are bad at managing their phones too.” Considering that teachers are a leading example of how students should behave in class, it is only fair and logical that teachers refrain from using their phones to set a good example.
“You have to lead by example so that students know I don’t play on my phone during class and that there are priorities that have to be done; it’s to garner respect,” United States History Teacher Chris Eichbauer said. “I think we can all benefit from removing ourselves from technology.”
Phone and Learning Research
Since entering high school, it is undeniable that work productivity and communication have decreased for most students, and part of this can be attributed to the use of phones. According to a Pew Research Center study on phone use among teenagers, the majority report frequent distraction from their phones, which is linked to decreased focus, productivity, and face-to-face communication.
While students may think that they can be on their phones or listen to music and still learn everything as well as someone who is paying full attention, research suggests otherwise. As Eichbauer mentioned, “Evidence and research show that the human brain is incapable of being engaged in your phone and engaged with what the teacher is teaching.” Removing phones has the long-term goal of returning students to a state where they can be efficient learners.
Exceptions and Accommodations
Although the ban is set to be district-wide and applied to all circumstances, there has been a push for some exceptions to be made. Certain classes, such as video production and newspaper, utilize phones for assignments, where they are used for journalistic purposes. Without phones, these classes will need to find other means to go about their work, which may be hard when phones have been a central part of students’ learning for a long time. Salah said that “we should give you everything you need as a student to take a given class and be successful. So, if that means allowing you to use a recording device, where we purchase a handful of recording devices that could be used for the class, then I think that should be provided.” Chromebooks, for example, are an alternative for certain situations where audio recordings can be done. Chromebooks can do nearly everything that a phone can, as Hope explained that “Chromebooks are one-to-one devices that allow students to do everything electronically that is needed for the class.”
Students with special accommodations may also need their phones for specific reasons, and this cannot be removed. Salah mentioned that “we do need to acknowledge and be flexible that there might be circumstances where a cell phone might be needed.” While the district moves forward with a phone ban, administrators emphasize that flexibility is ensured to all students so they can continue learning effectively.
Balancing Technology and School Life
In the end, the upcoming phone ban represents a significant change but also offers students a chance to rethink how they engage with school and with one another. Rather than jumping to conclusions, it is encouraged to stay open-minded and consider how more in-person interactions could strengthen connections and improve school experiences. As technology continues to shape daily life, finding a healthy balance between device use and genuine human interaction becomes increasingly important. Ultimately, building stronger social skills now will prepare students for success far beyond the classroom.