School phone bans: what the studies actually show

In France, since the 2026 school year, using a phone at school is banned from preschool through high school. Eight years after the first law, we are starting to see what that actually does.

The rule holds during lessons. It changes little once you are outside. And it concerns adults too.

What changed

In 2018, France banned phone use in primary schools and collèges (middle school). The phone can stay in the bag, switched off, including at break, unless there is an exemption.

“Portable en pause” goes further: the device is not just put away, it is set aside for the day. Locker, shared box, pouch. More than 32,000 collège students tried it in 2024-2025. According to the ministry, the school climate improved, so did concentration, with fewer reports linked to social media. The scheme was rolled out to all collèges at the start of the 2025 school year.

In 2026, the ban on use was extended to lycées (upper secondary). Each school sets the details, exceptions and sanctions in its internal rules. That is not necessarily a collection of every phone.

France is not alone. In March 2026, UNESCO counted 114 education systems with a national ban or restriction: 58% of countries, up from 24% in 2023. The rule is spreading faster than the evidence.

Less phone in class. Not necessarily better grades

The largest study to date comes from the United States (April 2026). About 4,600 schools lock phones in pouches for the day.

One point is clear: students use them much less at school.

The rest is less so. In the first year, disciplinary incidents rise and self-reported wellbeing falls. The researchers see an adjustment period. After that, incidents return close to where they started, and wellbeing improves a little.

Grades, on average, barely move. A slight plus in maths at high school, a slight minus in middle school. In both cases, the gap is small. Little change either in attendance, attention in class, or the sense of cyberbullying.

Banning the phone does not raise averages on its own.

Other work says something else. In Norway, a 2024 study found girls’ grades improved, especially in less affluent backgrounds. It also notes a drop in care-seeking for psychological symptoms among girls, and less bullying among girls and boys.

That is not necessarily a contradiction. Countries, ages, duration and how the rule is applied vary a lot. Overall, it reduces use at school. For grades, attention or morale, it depends on the context.

40 minutes less at school, not across the day

A 2025 English study helps see the limit. 1,227 students aged 12 to 15, 30 schools, 20 of them with a stricter policy.

In those schools, students spent about 40 minutes less on their phone during school hours, and 30 minutes less on social media.

Over the whole day, no real difference with more lenient schools. In both groups, use sat around four to six hours a day. No clear gap either on anxiety, depression, sleep, physical activity, or English and maths grades.

This is an observational study. It does not prove that every minute gained in class is taken back in the evening. It mainly shows that a rule can protect a timetable without cutting daily use.

The ban is not pointless for all that. It keeps the phone away from lessons, limits some distractions, leaves more room for others. It simply has no hold on the bus, the sofa, the bedroom.

It removes the device. It does not touch the reason people reached for it.

Adults have no equivalent rule

At school, students have a frame. At home, nobody puts the parents’ phone in a pouch.

A British survey from July 2026 (Virgin Media O2) estimates that parents of underage children spend an average of 2 hours and 6 minutes a day on their phone without really meaning to. An automatic gesture, a notification opened “just to check”, a scroll that lasts too long.

56% of children aged 8 to 16 say their parents’ phone makes them miss important moments. Nearly two thirds think their parents do not see how much time they spend on it.

This is not a clinical study, and it rests in part on self-reports. It mainly recalls that the reflex does not stop at adolescence.

The gesture is ordinary. A child talks, shows something, and the adult looks at the screen a little too long. Repeated, it can change the quality of the exchange.

A 2025 meta-analysis in JAMA Pediatrics pooled 21 studies and 14,900 participants. A parent using a device in the presence of a child under five was associated with weaker outcomes on cognition, behaviour, attachment and the child’s screen time. The effects are small. That cannot be treated as a cause. The association shows up often enough to take seriously.

The phone also serves to work, stay reachable, unwind. The issue appears only when it cuts into a moment people meant to live.

A rule protects a moment, not a habit

Banning phones at school and looking at your own habits are not the same problem.

The school rule protects a space. Fewer distractions, fewer chances to film or post, a few hours without immediate access. Then it stops.

For something to hold afterwards, the gesture also has to be noticed before it runs on its own.

“You’re not allowed” does not survive the school gate.

“Why am I opening this, right now?” can be asked anywhere.

No need for a new list of bans. A few precise rules, shared by the whole family, are often enough:

1. A meal without phones. For everyone, not only the children.
2. Devices charged outside bedrooms. Fewer automatic opens in the evening and at wake-up.
3. Some moments or rooms without screens. A specific room or slot holds better than a vague instruction.
4. A short pause before opening. Especially the apps opened most often without thinking.

The point is not to stop using a phone. It is to tell apart the times you chose to pick it up, and the times you opened it without noticing.

Frequently asked questions

Are phones banned in French high schools in 2026?

Yes. Since the 2026-2027 school year, using them is banned in French lycées. Each school sets the details, exceptions and sanctions in its internal rules.

Do phone bans improve grades?

Not across the board. Some studies find gains in specific groups. The largest studies find an average effect on grades close to zero.

Do school phone bans reduce daily screen time?

They reduce use during the school day. Over the whole day, the available studies do not show a clear, consistent drop.

What is the difference between a ban and “Portable en pause”?

A ban is about use: the phone can stay in the bag, switched off. “Portable en pause” goes further: the phone is set aside for the day, in a locker, a shared box or a pouch.