Arkansas has officially implemented a “phone-free” pilot program at school districts across the state.
The program, championed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is currently underway at 112 school districts throughout the state.
The initiative to establish “phone-free” schools was implemented to enhance students’ mental health and reduce screen addiction, according to the governor.
“We are doing this in Arkansas and hope to see more states follow our lead!” Sanders wrote in an X post on Dec. 9, noting that she was inspired after reading Jonathan Haidt’s book, “The Anxious Generation.”
The initiative is financed by $7 million in state funding that allows schools to buy pouches or lock mechanisms for students to store their phones, as well as provides grants to participating schools for mental health programs.
Some school districts in Arkansas began the program at their middle schools since these students are at the typical age to receive their first mobile devices and begin to form certain habits around cellphone use.
Earlier this year, Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva urged superintendents across the state to join the pilot program, citing a correlation between cellphone use, academic performance, and mental health issues.
Oliva said that the average American teen spends nearly five hours a day on social media, often during school hours.
“Spending three or more hours a day on social media doubles kids’ risk of mental health problems,” Oliva wrote in a July letter.
“Since smartphones became widespread, suicide rates have tripled among young teens, self-harm among girls has gone up nearly 200%, and depression among teenagers has increased 150 percent. Teen math, reading, and science scores have dropped in the United States and other developed nations since 2012, while school alienation has risen across the board.”
State lawmakers recognized that prohibiting or restricting cellphone use by students is complex, because they can be necessary for learning and conducting research.
Lawmakers have also acknowledged that it will take at least one full school year or more to accurately compile and compare any changes in test scores. The effect on students’ mental health could be even more challenging to gauge.
Families are also concerned that taking cellphones away from students cuts off necessary communication with their children.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 77 percent of U.S. schools nationwide say they prohibit cellphones at school for nonacademic use.
Restrictions vary across the country, with some school districts allowing students to use their phones during lunch and in between classes.
Los Angeles Unified earlier this year became the largest school district in the nation to approve a cellphone ban during the school day. Its ban goes into effect in February 2025.
In 2023, Florida became the first state in the country to ban cellphone use in schools.