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New York Lawmakers Reach Deal On 'Bell-To-Bell' School Cellphone Ban (cbsnews.com) 134

Posted by BeauHD from the no-more-distractions dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says a $254 billion state budget deal has been reached, including a "bell-to-bell" school cellphone ban. [...] The distraction-free policy would take effect next school year, making New York the largest state in the country with a "bell-to-bell" cellphone ban. Hochul says the plan will help protect children from addictive technology and improve their mental health. The New York State United Teachers union also came out in support of the ban, saying "we are at a crisis point."

The governor previously outlined the proposal back in January, saying it would ban the use of smartphones and other internet-enabled devices on school grounds during the school day. That includes classroom time, lunch and study hall periods. "A bell-to-bell ban, morning until the day is over, is not going to hurt your kids. It's going to help them emerge with stronger mental health and resiliency," she told CBS News New York at the time.

Hochul said the ban would include smartphones and other personal "smart" devices, like smartwatches. Exemptions could be made if a student requires a device to manage a medical condition or for translation purposes. Cellphones that don't have internet capability and devices that are provided by the school for lesson plans would still be allowed. The proposal would let individual schools come up with their own ways to implement the ban and store the devices, and schools would be able to decide whether to have students leave them in things like pouches, lockers or cubbies. It would also require schools to make sure parents have a way to contact their children during the day, if needed. "Protecting our communities requires more than streets where people feel safe. We need classrooms where young minds can flourish, and that means eliminating once and for all the digital distractions that steal our kids' attention," the governor said, adding, "We protected our kids before from cigarettes, alcohol and drunk driving, and now, we're protecting them from addictive technology designed to hijack their attention."

New York Lawmakers Reach Deal On 'Bell-To-Bell' School Cellphone Ban More | Reply

New York Lawmakers Reach Deal On 'Bell-To-Bell' School Cellphone Ban

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  • ..legitimate need for phones in school
    They are only a distraction, and a serious one

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by jsonn ( 792303 )
      There are legitimate reasons, e.g. informing parents that some classes at the end of the day have been cancelled. But they are rare.

      • Re:There is NO... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by TWX ( 665546 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2025 @07:56PM (#65341343)

        I used to work for a K-12 in IT support. School districts have systems or subscribe to services to blast-out notifications. Back when I was in it, those were voice messaging systems that would read out a prerecorded message to the phone of the guardian(s) on record. More modern systems may include SMS capability or even an app that ostensibly is for parents to interact with teachers, but supports more notification capabilities than just that.

        Around fifteen years ago a new deputy superintendent tried to push for a BYOD policy for student devices, up to and including phones and obsolete PDAs like older Palm devices. The must've been pretty slick showing those old devices doing something meaningful because there was a hard push to make this happen. Ultimately where it was piloted it was basically not used, either because the kids didn't have personal devices to bring to begin with, or because the kids were doing anything except their actual lessons.

        I would agree that there's basically no benefit to having cell phones during instruction time. For old kids, save 'em for passing periods, lunchtime, and before or after school. For younger kids, just don't even bother having them during school hours.

      • The proposed legislation allows this one. "bell to bell". Your classes finished, you can call your parents.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jsonn ( 792303 )
          The point is to inform them *before* the last class, so that they actually have time to come.

          • Re:There is NO... (Score:4, Informative)

            by jezwel ( 2451108 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2025 @10:41PM (#65341569)

            The point is to inform them *before* the last class, so that they actually have time to come.

            That's something the school should be doing rather than the student. The school has contact details for the parents and can (or should, my school can) send targeted SMS and email messages about things like this.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jsonn ( 792303 )
              So you want a school admin to coordinate possible alternatives for 20+ kids in a class? Good luck. There are much easier alternatives like having a special communication area etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm generally in favor of restricting the use of mobile phones in schools. I have enough experience volunteering for after-school clubs to understand the impact. But we all know that the devil is in the details and there are enough moronic admins running around already that believe e.g. a blood sugar monitor mu

              • The school doesn't have to coordinate anything. All they have to do is send out a text to everyone on the contact list. Whoever gets the call can coordinate.

          • The point is to inform them *before* the last class, so that they actually have time to come.

            If the school ends classes early, surely the students can hang out on campus until parents arrive? Or go home with a friend? Or do homework? Or play a sport? Or go to the library? Or... or... or...

            • If the school ends classes early, surely the students can hang out on campus until parents arrive?

              Several times while I was in school it rained so badly that enough kids weren't able to get to school and they had to close for the day. Naturally, they couldn't let us go home on our own, so we had to wait for a parent or other responsible adult came to get us. Something like that would have been very useful. And, the day JFK was killed, they closed the school (I was in Junior High at the time; not Middl

              • Re:There is NO... (Score:4, Informative)

                by stabiesoft ( 733417 ) on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @08:58AM (#65342083) Homepage
                Curious where was this. I and my siblings basically were latchkey kids growing up in the 60's. Parents never picked us up from school. We walked home, as far back as I can remember. In my case in the early grades (1,2,3) my brothers probably were with me. By 4th I know I was on my own. Heck I was a patrol boy in 4th helping other kids cross the busy streets with a pole and a flag at the end to control traffic. I recall cold mornings we got hot chocolate and got to start class 10 minutes late as a thanks for working the cold morning. And there was no adult helping the patrol boys. By 7th, I needed to go to a different school and was bused. I had a quick breakfast and was out the door to the bus stop, and returned via bus. Often to an empty house. I had a key. The 60's was a very different time. Kids walked in single file lines between classes in my grade school too. Discipline was a real thing. At least in IN.

          • Why would you need a phone for this? School admins have a landlines. Also school admins aren't banned from using mobile phones. Students should have no part of this.

          • Wait so they have to hang around school instead of having their parents on a leash to "come" when told? What in the 1980s/1990s.... Oh noooo! Poor Johnny is gonna have to sit and read a book or something, lol

      • Is the fucking suburbs. You would think that a bunch of nerdy dudes would have listened to the Rush song subdivisions but nope I guess not. It's a song about the isolation of living in a suburb.

        What the song doesn't address is where and why that isolation comes. It's because you're extremely spread out in the suburbs so you don't have a lot of opportunity for interacting with people outside of school and inside of school you don't get all that much time. You get 1 hour for lunch and if you're at a reall
      • Schools have phones that can be used for that stuff. It worked well for the majority of the twentieth century.

        • >"Schools have phones that can be used for that stuff. It worked well for the majority of the twentieth century."

          Exactly. I went through school when there was no Internet or cell phones. But OMG, we survived just fine. If there was something urgent, the school office could contact the parent or the parent could contact the office who would then contact the child.

          Sure, we had some limited distractions in classes- other stuff to read, calculators, some limited electronic games later on, a little note pa

          • Well I have to admit I used to play hangman with a buddy during math class in 5th I think it was. I and he were very good in math and it was just boring to be there. We both got A's. But we were very discreet about it to ensure the teacher did not notice. He was one of the teachers who got called to do the paddling. Not one to trifle with.

            • Hangman you say? Clearly that shows some kind of homicidal tendencies and lust for violence just like supposedly biting a sandwich into something that might vaguely resemble a handgun. You must submit to mandatory reeducation.

      • There are legitimate reasons, e.g. informing parents that some classes at the end of the day have been cancelled. But they are rare.

        You should probably ask for a rebate on your local taxes, since that grown-ass adult responsible for parental notifications clearly isn’t being employed anywhere nearby.

        To clarify the parents point, there are no legitimate reasons a student needs a phone in school. There are legitimate emergencies that can and should be handled by the grown-ass adults in the room. As they were for decades prior to digital addiction being marketed and sold to every student.

  • is that it is possible to have 4-6 hours of your life without constant distractions. It IS possible.

    That this idea is so divisive and evokes extreme reactions by everybody is crazy. Crazy like suggesing to an addict that being normal has advantages... like good heath and long life.

    • How come I'm an ex-addict who wishes he were dead half the time?

      • it's zen, it means something different to each person. I obviously can't tell you .. how long a piece of string is. But there are certain realities that aren't really worth arguing about. Like whether something like opiates addiction is more healthy than not being addicted to opiates. Replace "opiates" with your particular poison. It helps to eliminate certain dead end arguments, which is what seriously addicted people almost unanimously do. There's other simple signs like the refusal to define a problem or

      • How come I'm an ex-addict who wishes he were dead half the time?

        Lets remember we’re talking about addiction of limited capacity here. Suffering like you describe usually does not continue to ravage ex-addicts unless the former addiction had crossed the line over into physical dependency. Digital addiction has its obvious limits of influence.

        All that said, I truly hope you can find peace in some way as you remain on a disciplined path you likely cannot deviate from, and work very hard to stay on. Sobriety is the belief that being alive is better than being an ad

    • It doesn't help. It does not solve any of the underlying problems the kids are facing. It's a distraction because the people of the New York legislature and frankly the people of New York don't want to spend the time and money to help the kids for real.

      So we ban cell phones but we don't do anything about the kids not having any futures because they can't afford to go to college and no they can't all be plumbers and HVAC welders. We don't deal with the fact that a lot of those kids go hungry even in a we

      • It doesn't help. It does not solve any of the underlying problems the kids are facing. It's a distraction because the people of the New York legislature and frankly the people of New York don't want to spend the time and money to help the kids for real.

        I'll agree with that one.

        So we ban cell phones but we don't do anything about the kids not having any futures because they can't afford to go to college and no they can't all be plumbers and HVAC welders. We don't deal with the fact that a lot of those kids go hungry even in a wealthy State like New York. We don't give parents the support they need to raise kids because if you try to everyone has a fucking fit about oh don't you tell me how to raise my kid (I speak from bitter experience, my mom was a nut job and I could have used with someone intervening)

        So maybe I'm opening Pandora's Box here, but what would you suggest?

        • " what would you suggest?"

          Why not legalize drugs, right to camp, and suicide, for a start, so we have an out from your stupid idiotic coercive violent system?

          • " what would you suggest?"

            Why not legalize drugs, right to camp, and suicide, for a start, so we have an out from your stupid idiotic coercive violent system?

            Perhaps we don't do those things because school aged children haven't fully developed and therefore cannot make rational decisions like what you suggest. Perhaps.

      • Well, you didn't deny you were addicted, but you sure did change the subject.
        We are headed into a world where people must be connected to the internets like the Taelons were with the Commonality. It was wierdly disorienting for them, and for us apparently, to not be connected at all times. But people are different. A person needs time to be alone and/or quiet. That's why we have nap time in daycare.

        I would argue that applying a Stoic concept, a bit of self deprivation helps understand something with a grea
      • You have to start somewhere. This is a fantastic step. You can't teach distracted kids, period full stop. A friend used to teach HS and I was stunned at what went on. I used to joke with him all the time I'd last less than a day. I could not even walk a day in his shoes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sloppy ( 14984 )

        It does not solve any of the underlying problems the kids are facing. .. we don't do anything about the kids not having any futures because they can't afford to go to college

        That's an orthogonal issue. Suppose they did have a possible future: they'd still have the problem of classrooms being unviable because the kids are on their black mirrors instead of paying attention to class.

        If you want to fix the economy or education funding or whatever, fine. Go for it! But while you're in the middle of that Herculea

    • That this idea is so divisive and evokes extreme reactions by everybody is crazy. Crazy like suggesing to an addict that being normal has advantages... like good heath and long life.

      That's one of the things I definitely remember about pubic school. They have to hammer this idea into you that you must live your live your life exactly as you're been told, otherwise you'll end up a crackhead living in a cardboard box. You can't be trusted to use or do anything in a responsible manner, because that concept might give kids the impression that you're condoning such actions.

      And of course, once the bell rings at the end of the day, most of the kids do all those things you don't want them to

      • I don't think it's too much to ask. Afaik, you can't use a cell phone under water. So then what do athletes do when they train for who knows how many continuous hours in the pool. The idea that we can't do without phones for any amount of time is getting really creepy at this point. I guess it's just me, but I marvel at how people around me seem like addicts, willfully unaware and in denial of the harms that come with electronic devices. Jezus, the kids would have both hands free to smoke, the old fashioned

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by skam240 ( 789197 )

          Yeah, it strikes me as kind of crazy when people describe cell phone bans as some kind of hardship for the kids involved. If it is for any of them, that just highlights the problem that's schools are trying to address.

  • When I was in school, teachers used to love saying "you wouldnt walk around with a calculator in your pocket all the time, would you?"

    Teachers today: "NO, DON'T CARRY A GLOBALLY CONNECTED SUPER COMPUTER IN YOUR POCKET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by TWX ( 665546 )

      Learn how and why things work before turning to electronic aids to make performing the tasks easier.

      If you don't learn how and why, then you won't be able to actually choose the right operations to run on that electronic toy.

      • If you don't learn how and why, then you won't be able to actually choose the right operations to run on that electronic toy.

        Except the "how" is then proceeded by "now, demonstrate that you understand this concept by spending the rest of the period manually doing something that a machine could do instantly and with perfect precision".

        It's like being taught culinary arts by someone who asks you to bake a loaf of bread, but won't accept your work unless you grow the wheat and mill the flour by hand.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by TWX ( 665546 )

          I find your analogy flawed.

          If I was going to make a comparison with bread, it would be the difference between preparing the dough on the bench, putting it into the pan, and putting it into the oven, versus pouring the ingredients into the bread machine and hitting start.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      "you wouldnt walk around with a calculator in your pocket all the time, would you?"

      Slide rule.

    • When I was in school, teachers used to love saying "you wouldnt walk around with a calculator in your pocket all the time, would you?"

      Yeah, that teacher-ism aged like milk.

    • When I was in school, teachers used to love saying "you wouldnt walk around with a calculator in your pocket all the time, would you?"

      Ironically enough I wonder how many teachers suffer from the kinds of personal financial pitfalls easily avoided with the assistance of a certain calculating device being perhaps more readily available in their daily lives?

      (Bankruptcy Office) “Check out the math teacher walking in. And we thought psychics were ironic..”

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by zlives ( 2009072 )

        how would a calculator make them not be a teacher, at least in US teacher salaries seem indicate being a teacher is a financial pitfall.

  • What about Kindles and e-readers that are not connected to the schools WiFi?
    Are the kids allowed to read during their breaks?

    • TFA: "Cellphones that don't have internet capability and devices that are provided by the school for lesson plans would still be allowed."

  • so tired of moral panics. remember that time when D&D was gonna turn your brain into goop? or when video games, particularly grand theft auto, was going to instantly convert children into serial killers? need more examples?

    leave the kids alone!

    • Re:we’ve seen this before. (Score:5, Informative)

      by jsonn ( 792303 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2025 @08:15PM (#65341381)
      It's not a moral panic, there is actual evidence that a general cell phone ban does help. A lot.

      • It's not a moral panic, there is actual evidence that a general cell phone ban does help. A lot.

        I've only found evidence to the contrary so far.

        • Depends on what you're helping. Studies have shown that school grades are impacted. But many other things are. Class disruption is reduced, social interaction is improved, and staff have an easier time dealing with phone cheats when phones are blocked on the onset (doesn't stop cheating itself, but it does help with enforcement).

          My wife's a teacher and she says the ban has had a quite dramatic change the class for the better. Maybe it won't be reflected in grades, but that's not the only thing school is abo

    • I became so violent that I killed everyone. If you're reading this you might think you're alive but you're not because I killed you in 1993. I'm so sorry. If only I'd listened to senator Lieberman.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I became so violent that I killed everyone.

        Indeed, you do suffer from many psychological problems.

    • Difference is we weren't ignoring the teacher and playing D&D with each other actively during classes.
      We also were playing GTA after school, not in our hands during school.
      We weren't allowed handheld video games during classes. This is that. Not a moral issue.

      • I agree with you, but there is a small difference. I guess it was allowed to play handheld games in between two classes, and in this example, it could have been a Game Boy Color with GTA. While the proposed legislation prohibits internet-capable devices including during recess.

      • uh. In 2000-2002 or so, everyone with a TI-83 was playing drug wars and Doom, etc. Learn how to quickly swap to a math screen if the teacher stands up, etc.
        • heh the ti-83.

        • uh. In 2000-2002 or so, everyone with a TI-83 was playing drug wars and Doom, etc. Learn how to quickly swap to a math screen if the teacher stands up, etc.

          Of course they were. But a modern smartphone is a little more compelling than Doom on a TI-83. A smartphone has audio, HD video and a fast internet connection. And can be used to distract other kids, whereas with Doom on a TI-83 you were only distracting yourself.

    • it was no different when you couldn't bring your game boy in. cell phones do all that and more.

  • Chromebooks are MANDATED at my kid's school (Score:3)

    by jelwell ( 2152 ) on Tuesday April 29, 2025 @08:31PM (#65341425)

    Who care about the cell phones when the school is the one handing every kid a Chromebook and then refusing to supervise their use when in classrooms. I hate when a teacher asks me to help keep my kid from being distracted on their Chromebook. I always just flatly say, take it away from them - I don't want them to have it in class anyways. This is 100% a problem of their making. Yes, they have net nannies, but their software doesn't adapt as quickly as these kids do.
    joe.

    • then you see those kids on reddit asking how to bypass the lockouts.

    • It may shock you and your privileged kid, but no every kid is not being handed a Chromebook in the class. Don't let general solutions to wide spread problems be influenced by your fancy school's policy as its applying to your fancy kids.

  • Or Social Media. No matter how many times it is said by social media promoters, it's a lie like most of the crap they peddle.

    1. Somebody has to pay for your phone
    2. You pay to use social media with your attention to adverts and surrendering your personal data.

    That's not free.

    "Free Speech" existed long before Twatter, Shitbook, Instacrap, Dickdock and Cu*t Social all that other bollocks, for example in the freedom of the press that President Chump is trying to curtail.

  • It works (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JoeRobe ( 207552 ) on Wednesday April 30, 2025 @07:28AM (#65341971) Homepage

    My wife is a high school teacher. Her school enacted a policy this year that has the kids put their phones into little cubbyholes upon entering the classroom, and they grab them on their way out. She's seen a huge difference in attention, even among the kids using laptops. The kids can still use their phones between classes and in an emergency they can get to them. Her biggest issue now is kids with smart watches that are still connected to the phones, and ones with a non-school-issued laptop, where she can't see what they're looking at.

    Lots of research shows this is beneficial from a learning perspective. Modern teachers would love to adapt and incorporate modern tech into their teaching approach, hence the enhanced use of graphing calculators when I was a kid and the current use of laptops loaded with learning apps. But cell phones are a double edged sword: they have a ton of potential for learning, but also a ton of distraction, moreso than laptops and TI-83's. Current high school students view the phone as primarily a social media device, not an educational resource that helps them learn.

  • I live in NY. Why is cell phones in schools part of the budget bill ?

  • We should not ban cellphones from students until we have eliminated the ability of disaffected youth to bring guns into school to murder their classmates. Every child deserves to have the ability to call for help or to tell their parents they love them one last time. I am not a fan of this stupid plan.

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