Testimony before the Michigan House Committee on Education and Workforce Regarding HB 4141

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Michigan House Committee on Education and Workforce, for the opportunity to testify on an issue critical to the educational and social development of Michigan’s youth. Over the last 15 years, the rapid uptake of smartphones has transformed the way American youth communicate and relate to each other. Though minors have not lost the need for distraction-free learning environments and age-appropriate face-to-face socialization, excessive smartphone use, including in school, has deprived them of these essentials.

Restricting smartphone use in K-12 public schools would improve classroom focus, strengthen peer connections, and restore the conditions students need to learn, grow, and thrive. I co-authored a Manhattan Institute (MI) model policy to assist policymakers with this much-needed undertaking. My testimony aims to elucidate the detrimental impacts of smartphones on students' academic performance, mental health, and social development, and to advocate for restricting smartphone use in public schools within the context of Michigan HB 4141.

The primary mission of public educational institutions is to provide students with the skills, knowledge, and socialization necessary to become productive and peaceable members of society. The pervasiveness of smartphone use has impeded schools from carrying out this critical responsibility.

Teachers and administrators from across the U.S. have found it increasingly difficult for students to learn in environments where smartphones are permitted. A 2024 Pew Research poll revealed that 72 percent of high school teachers nationwide say that cellphone distraction in the classroom is a major problem. Incessant pings and vibrations draw students’ attention away from their lessons and impede retention. The short-term gratification that results from checking phones—often engineered by social media companies—further reinforces this behavior.[1] Phone use also distracts nearby peers who are earnestly trying to learn. This, in turn, contributes to a schoolwide environment that undermines academic excellence.

The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results, released in January 2025, highlight the urgent need to remove impediments to academic improvement. Michigan’s average scores in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math remain below the national average.[2] In fourth grade reading, for example, the state’s average score was lower than those in 31 states and higher than those in only two.[3] Though many factors other than in-school smartphone and cellphone use contributed to these results, the effects of distracted school environments should not be understated, especially when simply banning phones can improve outcomes at little to no cost.

Beyond academic concerns, smartphone use is profoundly affecting students’ psychological well-being. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and others have demonstrated the link between smartphone ownership, screen time, and social-media use with increased rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness among American youths.[4] The ubiquitous exposure to social media has contributed to a decline in mental health among Gen Z and Gen Alpha youths across the developed world. Social-media use in school has likewise contributed to greater instances of bullying and even physical altercations.[5]

Excessive digital communication impedes the development of essential social skills. Face-to-face interactions are necessary for normal childhood socialization and promote the social transmission of knowledge.[6] When students look down at their phones during lunchtime and break periods, rather than interact with each other, they lose opportunities for social engagement, making them less able to create and foster healthy interpersonal relationships.

Polling across the U.S. and in Michigan reveals that restricting smartphone use in schools is broadly popular across the political spectrum. Michigan voters support requiring students to store their phones in lockers during instructional time by a two-to-one margin.[7] MI polling likewise indicates that 73 percent of voters support school restrictions on access to cell phones.[8] This bipartisan consensus reflects a collective recognition of phones’ adverse effects in school.

HB 4141 attempts to remedy these issues by requiring that the boards of school districts and public school academies implement a policy restricting the use of wireless communication devices on school grounds. It holds grade levels to different mandatory restrictions, requiring that districts ban all phone use during the entire school day for kindergarten through grade 5, during nearly all school hours for grades 6 to 8, and during instructional time for grades 9 to 12.

In doing so, HB 4141 seeks to promote less distracted school environments while providing for a meaningful degree of flexibility to suit local circumstances. It recognizes that phone use should be more limited in earlier years yet permits districts to restrict use further in middle and high school. The model policy I co-authored would go further to limit smartphone use during the entire school day, from kindergarten through high school.

Though HB 4141 would represent a significant step forward toward removing phones from public schools, its definition of “wireless communication device” would also encompass more devices than smartphones or cellphones. As written, it could include laptops, wearable electronic devices, tablets, and others. Digital tools can sometimes enhance learning, but their use should be deliberate and structured, exclusively limited to school-provided devices for approved lessons with appropriate safeguards. A blanket prohibition on the use of devices during instructional time may be incongruent with such legitimate and approved pedagogical uses. An express exception for school-issued devices used for approved educational purposes would resolve this issue.

The MI model, in addition to providing such an exception, limits the prohibition to smartphones, allowing for basic phones and wearable electronic devices so that parents have a range of options to communicate with their children in emergencies. Parents have often opposed efforts to ban phones in schools because they want a way to contact their children when necessary. Making parents feel comfortable with a phone ban is important to building a durable political coalition. Parents should feel that they can support measures like HB 4141 without implicating safety concerns.

HB 4141 currently does not stipulate uniform, statewide requirements or guidelines to discipline students for violations of districts’ phone policies. The MI model offers a pragmatic baseline framework for enforcement, progressively escalating for repeated violations, while still allowing local districts to implement stricter enforcement than the statewide minimum. Teachers and their unions have sometimes called for a uniform discipline policy to make enforcement easier and more consistent, and to reduce the potential for backlash against teachers.[9] Finally, the MI model also provides for exceptions for medical needs.

If HB 4141 passes during the current legislative session, Michigan lawmakers would likely be able to revisit issues like a uniform discipline standard in future years. At that time, lawmakers will have the advantage of real-world insight into how different districts have implemented bans and what has proven more and less effective across the state.

Over time, a readily understandable and consistently enforced district smartphone policy should foster school cultures that do not tolerate or expect phone use. This will help reorient schools to academic and personal excellence and, ultimately, to the realization of their mission. Many schools and districts that implemented phone bans experienced rapid improvements in student focus, mental health, and attendance at school activities.[10]

In sum, Michigan students deserve schools where they can focus on learning and interacting face-to-face with their peers. Restricting phone use in K-12 public schools statewide promises to improve academic achievement and student mental health.

I commend the House Committee on Education and Workforce for considering this pressing issue. Thank you again for this opportunity, and I would be happy to answer any follow-up questions.

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John Ketcham is the director of cities and a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.* He has authored a number of MI reports and op-eds, including on restricting smartphone use in K-12 public schools. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School and BS in management information systems from Fordham University.

*The Manhattan Institute does not take institutional positions on legislation, rules, or regulations. Although my comments draw upon my research as a MI scholar, the views represented in my testimony are solely my own, not my employer's.

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[1] See, e.g., Bruce Goldman, Addictive potential of social media, explained, Stanford Med. Scope (Oct. 29, 2021), https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2021/10/29/addictive-potential-of-social-media-explained/.

[2] MI Dep’t of Ed., National Assessment of Educational Progress, https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/student-assessment/national-assessment-of-educational-progress.

[3] IES Nat'l Ctr. for Ed. Stat., 2024 Reading State Snapshot Report, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220MI4.pdf.

[4] See Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation 21–49 (2024).

[5] Emily Young et al, Frequent Social Media Use and Experiences with Bullying Victimization, Persistent Feelings of Sadness or Hopelessness, and Suicide Risk Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023, U.S. CDC (Oct. 10, 2024), https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7304a3.htm; Natasha Singer, An Epidemic of Vicious School Brawls, Fueled by Student Cellphones, N.Y. Times (Dec. 15, 2024),  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/15/technology/school-fight-videos-student-phones.html.

[6] See, e.g., Ashley Ransom et al., Face-to-Face Learning Enhances the Social Transmission of Information, PLoS One (2022), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8880930/.

[7] Jennifer Chambers, K-12 students Should Lock Up Cellphones, Michigan Voters Say in New Poll, Detroit News (Oct. 8, 2024), https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/10/08/cell-phone-schools-ban-restrict-lock-up-distractions-michigan-poll-k-12-students-smart-phone-pouches/75568714007/.

[8] Jesse Arm, America’s New Consensus: A National Survey Analysis of the Political and Policy Preferences of Likely 2024 Voters, Manhattan Inst. (July 16, 2024), https://manhattan.institute/article/americas-new-consensus.

[9] Press Release, UFT Could Support Citywide School Cell Phone Ban—with Conditions, UFT (Sept. 16, 2024), https://www.uft.org/news/press-releases/uft-could-support-citywide-school-cell-phone-ban-conditions

[10] See, e.g., Esme Fox, NY Students Banned From Using Phones First Hated, Then Loved It, Bloomberg CityLab (July 17, 2024), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-17/new-york-schools-that-banned-mobile-phones-see-student-grades-rise.