Majority of Americans support banning cell phones in schools

Seven in 10 Americans would support a cell phone ban in schools, according to new research.

With news that Texas is due to vote on a statewide ban of cell devices, a new survey of 2,000 Americans saw just 29% say they would not support a ban on cell phones in schools with 71% in favor in some form.

54% advocate for a ban in elementary schools, with sentiment lessening the older a child is; 49% for middle school and 45% for a ban on phones in high schools.

The survey, conducted by Talker Research, saw the biggest reason to support a ban is the worry over them distracting in lessons and impacting education (78%), followed by overall worry that children are on devices too long overall (72%).

Many also cited added fears over cyberbullying (47% of ban supporters), while the growing concern over AI being used to cheat or shortcut learning was also a factor for 45%.

The biggest reason for people not to support the ban was the feeling a parent needs to be able to contact their child at all times (58%).

The younger a respondent was, the less likely they were to support any cell phone ban; 41% of Gen Z would be against a ban versus 26% of baby boomers,

Over a quarter of non-ban supporters (27%) feel a child has a right to their devices, while 13% feel it shouldn’t be ‘all or nothing’ when it comes to device use and schooling.

In fact, just eight percent of the 2,000 polled felt kids should be allowed unrestricted access to phones in school.

The most common solution was for phones to only be able to be used at lunch, free periods or break times– supported by 56% of respondents.

Eleven percent felt phones should be used for educational purposes only, while 19% advocated for a complete ban of devices from school as the best strategy.

When asked if people thought implementing technology that blocks cell phone devices or signals during class time, 54% of the 2,000 would be in favor. Eighteen percent were unsure and 28% would not support this.

Interestingly, parents with a child currently attending elementary school were less likely to support a type of ban on devices in elementary school (40% vs. 54% of the whole sample).

This trend of parents with a child in that age group not supporting a ban as actively as the whole survey sample continues across ages with middle school parents (39% in favor versus 49% whole sample) and high school parents (34% vs. 45% whole sample) less likely to support a device ban that would impact their child.

Conversely, parents whose children had completed their schooling were higher than average in supporting device bans across all age groups.

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Friday, Feb. 7 and Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of the interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.