Why Kids Need Phone-Free Schools! The Most Important Public Health Policy of the 21st century?
I rarely mix my work doing EMF education and policy advocacy and EMF assessment work. Yet my blog is an opportunity to share publicly what is poorly understood: children’s exposures to radio-frequency radiation (RFR – or wireless radiation) in schools is extreme, as one recent study in Brazil has documented. There are now viable solutions to reducing RFR exposure with what is likely the most important public health policies of the 21st century: statewide and local policies that keep cell phones out of sight and out of reach from the first bell to the last bell of the school day. Dozens of cell phones in classrooms add a stunning level of 
RFR exposure to an already hazardous environment for our children, in addition to what is emitted from all the overpowered wireless access points and laptops. As the science clearly demonstrates, children are highly vulnerable to wireless radiation, and will have a lifetime of cumulative exposures.
We have a window now in which to jump on the phone-free schools movement, and here are a few reasons why:
- The US Surgeon General 2023 Report on social media is well documented, outlining how “persuasive design” has contributed to isolation, loneliness, and screen addiction.
- The latest large study on social media addiction has found this: Researchers at Cornell, Columbia, and UC-Berkeley have linked addictive screen use by adolescents to an increase in suicidal behaviors. The study followed 4,285 U.S. adolescents over a four-year period, and the results imply overwhelmingly that the key element driving risk of suicidal behavior is not total time but rather addictive use of social media, mobile phones, and video games. “This is the first study to identify that addictive use is important, and is actually the root cause, instead of time,” said lead author Yunyu Xiao, assistant professor of psychiatry at Cornell Medical College.
The release last March of the best-selling book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (by NYC Professor Jonathan Haidt, PhD) has sparked a national-wide movement of statewide and local policies from “bell to bell.” As of today, 6/27/25: There are now 13 US states that have already passed bell-to-bell cell phone policies. Another six states and the District of Columbia are in the process of passing bell-to-bell policies. Like NC, many of these are “local control” states – in which state policies do not interfere with what local officials can control. Yet elected officials in these states clearly understand the urgency of the youth mental health crisis, and how social media has contributed to this very sad situation. Even our neighboring states of VA, SC, and GA are included in the 13 states which have passed bell-to-bell policies. Yet the NC General Assembly has refused to budge. Our elected officials are now in the process of passing what is likely the weakest school cell phone policy in the U.S.
The release last March of the best-selling book The On June 3rd, Governor Stein’s new NC Council on Student Safety & Wellbeing released their “best practice guidance” on what local school districts should adopt. Fortunately, they urge school systems establish policies that “eliminate the use of personal communication devices from the start to the end of the school day….We believe that NC must blaze a trail in its efforts to improve academic achievement and well-being by eliminating the use of personal communication devices in schools. Let’s give our students eight hours a day Monday through Friday when they can focus on being students, engaging actively with their friends and teachers in-person without the constant pressure of a device. Our students most certainly deserve it.”
Unfortunately, the Council provided no content or education for schools, administrators or parents on WHY a bell-to-bell policy is far more effective at improving outcomes than “instructional time” policies, which have been the easier policies to implement without parent pushback. These limited policies still allow students access to their phones between each class and at lunch.
Limitations of “Instructional Time Only” Policies
The data is very clear now that policies that cover “instructional time only” have little to no effect on children’s mental health, on reducing their social isolation, and improving school safety. In NC, Dr. Karl Johnson, Assistant Professor at UNC-CH’s School of Public Health, has distilled the complex research that finds that “instructional time only” policies may actually perpetuate addiction, particularly for the most vulnerable students. The addictive design of smart phones induces the desire to use the phone at every break, with that desire building up between class periods, leading to a surge of dopamine with each access throughout the day. This experience could be explained as “positive intermittent reinforcement,” in which addictions are more likely to manifest when there are intermissions between use and the level of reward is unpredictable. There are numerous studies now demonstrating how these “restrictive” policies often do not work at all, and put the burden of enforcement on teachers. (See more here and here to better understand why). This 12-min video describes why mere restrictions fail, while complete bans (bell-to-bell policies) succeed through three powerful scientific mechanisms: compliance issues, craving cycles, and memory consolidation: Why Cell Phone BANS in School Work (and Restrictive Policies Fail) (Jared Cooney Horvath, 2025)
Locally in Buncombe County, NC (Asheville), I am grateful that the local school district has drastically reduced the baseline levels of wireless radiation levels from wireless access points by at least 90%. Yet it is very disappointing that the Buncombe Co Board of Education appears too hesitant to create a bell-to-bell policy for K-12 because of some student and parent pushback.
Benefits of Bell-to-Bell Policies
Attached is “Top 10 Reasons to Support Bell-to-Bell Policies” – compiled by Dr. Karl Johnson, along with me and Lina Nealon, a national expert in child exploitation. This document has lots of resources for local schools to utilize! Dr. Johnson has been assessing the benefits of varying cell phone policies in NC’s Granville County Schools. He confirms some of the positive effects found internationally. The majority of Granville Co teachers report increases in academic performance (80% of teachers noting improvements), decreases in class disturbances (89%), decreases in bullying (74%) and increases in teacher satisfaction (74%) associated with their bell-to-bell policy. As a result, Granville Co Superintendent Stan Wilborne will expand the bell-to-bell policy to every school for the upcoming academic year, and create a new policy of “Tech-free Tuesdays and Thursdays” – no Chromebooks to be used! Superintendent Dale Cole of Brunswick County Schools also found that chronic absenteeism dropped significantly, by almost in half in one schools, and by 24% in another school from their bell-to-bell policy. Administrators attributed the drop to an improved social climate at the schools, with reductions in students using social media or group messages to cyberbully, spread rumors, and plan fights. A gold-standard study by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found significantly improved academic outcomes, along with reduced use of mental health outcomes, pointing to a potential future reduction in costs of mental health services.
As a public health professional with 35 years of experience, I believe that cell phone policies in schools will surely be the most important protective public health policy of the 21st century. How our NC General Assembly members and local school board members finally vote will have a stunning effect on students’ mental health, safety, academic performance, teacher satisfaction and teacher retention for many years ahead.
Please urge your school board members and members of the NC General Assembly to adopt a bell-to-bell policy, and provide education to parents and students about WHY this is critical.
Low-Cost Options for Storing Phones
Yondr Pouches – used by some well-resourced schools – are NOT shielded to protect from wireless radiation exposures. (This was recently confirmed for me by one of their reps.) In the midst of the necessary budget cuts that many NC schools are facing, expensive Yondr pouches for phone storage are not a viable option. For phone-free schools on a budget, check out these two videos below. Learn from the success stories of schools in urban Ohio and rural Vermont on how they successfully implemented a bell-to-bell school policy at almost no cost, using padded envelopes and plastic milk crates, or wooden organizers. 
| Phone-Free Schools on a Budget – 15 Min |
| Phone-Free Schools on a Budget – 40 Min |
Phone-Free Schools Improve Student Safety Every Day!
While a vocal minority of parents are concerned about contacting their children in the event of a school shooting, the research shows that students are actually safer without phones, both during an emergency and every day. The National Association of School Resource Officers, which has found that in the rare case of a school shooter, student are safest without phones, focused instead on the adults in front of them providing instructions, with their location not revealed by a phone’s lights and binging, and clear access open to the school for faster arrival by first responders. NASRO also states that students are safest every day without phones, related to fewer fights, and fewer incidents of cyberbullying and privacy violations. It is critical that all parents understand this reality.
Critical Resources for Schools 
For help with creating and implementing bell-to-bell policies, check out these resources:
- Distraction-Free School Policy Project website
- The Phone Free School Movement has free Toolkits for both Administrators and “Ambassadors”
- Rolling Back the Phone-Based Childhood This 45 minute lecture by the Anxious Generation author, Jonathan Haidt’s. This is specifically for parents and teachers
- Can’t Look Away, a Bloomberg documentary by parents who lost their children to social media. (available only until August 4th).
In closing: Let’s not let our children be political pawns to avoid pushback and unpopularity. School administrators in the late 1980’s did not ask children’s opinions about smoke-free school policies. The first few weeks will not be easy to implement, but once a bell-to-bell policy is implemented, parents, teachers, and students will be grateful. As the United Nations has recommended in its UNESCO 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, not only is a “ban” needed on all cell phones in all schools, but also education for both students and parents on why this is needed.
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produces oxidative effects or free radicals, and damages DNA. Moreover, the preponderance of studies that examine genetic, neurological and reproductive outcomes has also found significant effects. Among hundreds of studies of RFR, 72% – 89% reported significant effects. Among hundreds of studies of ELF, 77% – 91% reported significant effects.”
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are exposed to extreme exposure levels in most schools, it is imperative for them to recover from those exposures in a safe, low-EMF environment at home. 
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My mother, who was a self-professed “health food nut” in the early 1970s, was an early adopter of new health behavior. Though she died young, she left me the gift of a healthy curiosity for wellness and prevention. That curiosity sprouted for me at age 23, during my service as a Peace Corps volunteer and health educator in Senegal, West Africa. I learned from my village’s health professionals and elders about the too-common tragedies of infants and toddlers losing lives to malaria and dehydration. Inspired by my Peace Corps instructors of public health, I dove into learning how life could be well lived when prevention is a fabric of our daily lives. It need not be fear-based, but a fact-based lifestyle decision.
