Disconnect to reconnect
How Kentucky schools are tackling student smartphone use
What if your school district could make one change to protect student mental health, boost academic engagement and build stronger social connections? Lawmakers and educators believe Kentucky House Bill 208 could do just that.
The new bill was passed unanimously in the 2025 legislative session and supported by education advocacy groups like the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and the Kentucky Education Association. It took effect at the end of June, requiring all Kentucky school boards to adopt policies banning smartphone use during instructional time. Additionally, the law requires blocking social media and explicit content. Students have mixed feelings about the new law, and educators are grappling with how to implement it.
Stop the distraction
Teachers nationwide say phones are an unprecedented distraction. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that kids ages 8–18 spend an average of 7.5 hours daily in front of some kind of screen—nearly 40% of their waking hours. Students may stream shows, play games, scroll social media and chat online—all while in class.
Some Kentucky school districts have already implemented policies similar to those required by the new law. Last summer, Bourbon County High School told parents that students would be required to store phones in school-provided cases during instructional time for the upcoming school year. Assistant Principal Kirsten Nicoulin says teacher requests drove the decision to limit phone accessibility. “We saw declining test scores and teacher retention,” she says. “Phones aren’t the only issue, but the abuse was obvious in our classrooms. Teachers needed our support in drawing this line.”
School leadership had great intentions—supporting teachers and engaging students—but defining the policy was challenging. Enforcing it was even harder. BCHS considered how the policy would affect emergencies, lockdowns and medical situations. They decided staff would never touch students’ phones. Students would be responsible for compliance and retrieval. Some parents pushed back, primarily from a desire to make sure their children could reach them, but most came on board once reassured. “Our policy is that if a family emergency arises, a teacher will allow a student to make a call,” Nicoulin explains.
Students reluctantly realized the change needed to happen. “It helps us focus and makes teachers’ jobs easier. We definitely socialize more in class,” says junior Luis Ojeda. He says when the whole class is doing the same thing, it is easier to follow through.
“I get my work done faster, but most of my friends don’t like the rule,” sophomore Jayleigh Curtis says. “We like texting our family during the day.” She wishes schools could find a way to block social media so students could keep their phones. Nicoulin wishes they could block more, too. “Our filters catch a lot, but students know how to work around them,” she says.
The students’ responses line up with findings from the Kentucky Student Voice Team, a youth-led education advocacy organization, which found that while most students agree that putting their phones away prevents distraction, they also like having them close for feelings of safety.
Safety first
A growing body of research, however, suggests phones may offer more harm than benefits—and school administrators agree. Frankfort Independent’s Second Street School, which includes grades K-8, began restricting phones during instructional time a few years ago. Principal Samantha Sams explains that problems still arose with phone use during breaks. She says students posted photos and videos of peers without consent, made inappropriate comments online during school hours and texted parents about peer conflicts even before staff were aware of them. In some cases, kids faced cyberbullying or explicit content alone, without telling any adult. Due to these challenges, administrators prohibited phones during the entire school day for the 2024-25 school year, using individual pouches in class crates for storage.
“We jokingly call the office where we store the phones ‘the beehive’ because it buzzes and vibrates all day long,” Sams says. “It’s a constant reminder we’re doing the right thing. Even when phones are tucked away in backpacks, the sound of notifications distracts students. We can’t control what happens outside of school, but as stewards of our students’ growth and development, we’ve made the decision not to allow in anything that could harm them—not on our watch.”
Henry County Public Schools Superintendent Jim Masters reminds parents about an issue that doesn’t get as much attention as it once did: online safety. “Predators pose as peers, and students often lack the maturity to recognize red flags or manipulate privacy settings,” he says.
Artificial intelligence has introduced new problems. Masters says, “It is easier than ever to create deep fakes—manipulated videos or images that look real but aren’t. These can be used to harass, embarrass or impersonate students. A video circulating online, even if fabricated, can seriously harm a student’s mental health and reputation.”
Masters urges parents to limit access, monitor activity, talk with their children about online safety and digital dependence, enable privacy settings and check in frequently with their children about what’s going on at school and in their online circles.
Cedar Grove Elementary teacher Travis Whitworth, second from right, hopes new policies help students “enjoy the benefits of technology without missing out on the basics they need for their growth.” He’s shown with students Peyton Kihnley, left, Bailey Clemons and Averie Blankenship. Photos: Tim Webb
Mental and physical health
Bethanie Brogli Opell is a school psychologist and crisis response consultant at Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, a consortium of 14 school districts in north central Kentucky. She has responded to multiple large-scale crisis events in the state, and says cyberbullying can be as traumatic as physical violence. Some students report developing eating disorders or turning to substance use to cope with emotions elicited by online ridicule.
Educators say social media takes an emotional toll, fueling constant comparison and feelings of inadequacy, which is difficult for anyone to carry—but especially preteens and teens. Excessive phone use also can disrupt relationships, hobbies, outdoor time and physical activity. The natural result: anxious students who are afraid of missing out online while missing real life right in front of them.
Travis Whitworth, a consumer-member of Salt River Electric, is a fourth grade math and science teacher in Bullitt County. He is also a coach for Teach Tech KY, a program that helps teachers integrate computer science and computational thinking skills. While he champions technology, he’s wary of overuse.
“One of my biggest concerns is the decline in students’ social skills and their ability to cope,” he says. “I believe there’s a strong link between early and excessive tech use and struggles with interpersonal development. Overusing tech is almost a modern-day pandemic.”
As an archery coach, Whitworth has also noticed declining motor skills. “I attribute this, in part, to early and excessive screen use,” he says. Whitworth hopes the new legislation helps students find balance so they “can enjoy the benefits of technology without missing out on the basics they need for their growth.”
Opell agrees it’s time for balance. “When we limit cellphone use in schools, we create space for real connection,” she says. “In today’s world, technology is often the primary space for socializing for our kids. Face-to-face relationships are suffering as a result. The rise in cyberbullying and online exploitation is deeply concerning. Removing that digital distraction from the classroom isn’t about punishment—it’s about protection.”
Bullitt County teacher Travis Whitworth, shown with students Kaiser Nguyen and Levi Miller, is also a Teach Tech KY coach. Photo: Tim Webb
Hope on the horizon
Did phone limits bring improvements to schools that have tried it? At Bourbon County High School, behavior referrals initially rose for noncompliance, but staff noticed an unexpected improvement as the year went on: peer conflicts and physical altercations dropped. “We knew most of our peer conflicts started with messaging during class,” Nicoulin says. “We didn’t realize reducing phone access would help so much.”
Henry County’s Masters says that in the last two years, when most Henry County schools have required students to keep phones out of sight during instructional time, they’ve seen significant improvements academically. “Last year, HCPS had the 13th highest growth statewide in literacy and math,” he says. “I believe that is a result of teachers actively engaging students, rather than students being distracted by their phones.”
Sams says Second Street School has seen a “tremendous decrease” in cyberbullying. Her favorite results: “I love that kids have to use the resources right in front of them—talk to the teacher, interact with the nurse. These self-advocacy skills are something they need for adulthood. And when kids don’t have phones at the lunch table, UNO cards come out. Seeing students laugh together is amazing.”
Extra credit
Want to dive deeper into the research? Here are a few links to get you started.
- Research from the Kentucky Student Voice Team.
- An overview of expert consensus on the negative impacts of smartphone and social media use for adolescent mental health (forthcoming from the Seton Hall Law School Legal Studies research paper series)
- High school teachers’ perspectives on phone use in the classroom (Pew Research Center).
- What excessive screen time does to the adult brain (Stanford Lifestyle Medicine).
