In a generation when not having your phone by your side constantly can trigger panic, the offline and online worlds compete to catch people’s attention. Accessing the internet, which nowadays is easy and designed to be addictive, creates the impression that any offline task requiring focus is hard and boring.
In this scenario, cell phones have become a major threat particularly in classrooms: where our cognitive focus is most needed, even if the content we are learning may sometimes seem boring. Now professors have to make extra effort to keep classes engaging , something that would be much easier if the online world were left outside the classroom.
With that in mind, banning phones – the main gateway to the internet – was not only considered necessary but was also implemented in educational settings such as schools. In Brazil, for example, it has been illegal to use phones in classrooms or during school breaks since the beginning of 2025.
However, phones’ addicting effect is not limited to children or teenagers who grew up virtually immersed; it also extends to young adults like us – university students – who are bombarded 24/7 by social media with news from around the world and updates about what other people are doing.
If we can also get distracted by the online world and miss an important part of the class, does it make sense to ban cell phones at universities as well? Or should adulthood, and the responsibility that comes with it, be enough to make us take our eyes off the screen?
Where the Debate Begins
It is not surprising how addicted we have become to screens; whenever people get together, someone is always on their phone, doing something they find more interesting.
Although this behavior has become common, it continues to raise concerns about the consequences of the excessive use of cell phones, particularly among children and teenagers in schools – one of the most important environments for developing cognitive skills.
Studies such as “Paying Attention: Towards a critique of the attention economy”, by Samuel Kinsley and Patrick Crogan, and “Banning Smartphones in Schools Review of the Literature Shows Positive Impact”, by David T. Marshall and Tim Pressley point out that this issue is far from new and helps explain why the debate tends to center on children and teenagers, whose cognition and socialization skills may be affected.
According to the analysis, simply having a phone filled with notifications beside them already affects students’ attention; the device begins to compete with the class for their focus, especially when message pop-ups appear – which studies link to lower content retention and, therefore, worse grades.
The authors also identify a shift in students’ attention: from deep to a more hyperactive mode that must quickly process lots of information, which disturbs their concentration. From that, they explain the brain can take more than 23 minutes to fully refocus, making not only engagement in lessons and discussions harder but also damaging students’ critical sense.
At the same time, excessive phone use in schools can also affect students’ social skills, even though the studies cite limited benefits, such as allowing students to communicate easily with their parents.
The authors point out that smartphones can compromise meaningful interaction among students, leading to a decline in face-to-face conversations, as well as issues like cyberbullying, social comparison, separation anxiety, and social exclusion.
One example is the phenomenon known as “phubbing” – the act of ignoring someone who is physically present in order to look at a phone.
But did all of these consequences disappear after phones were banned in an education setting?
It Made a Change
After years of students using mobile phones in classrooms, their consequences have finally become clear. As a result, schools around the world have started banning their use.
According to the “Global Education Monitoring Report, 2023: Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms?” from UNESCO, in 2023, almost one in four countries has implemented policies against the use of phones. It varies from prohibiting phones throughout the entire school day to allowing them only during breaks.
One study exploring these consequences is “Student Perspectives on Banning Mobile Phones in South Australian Secondary Schools: A Large-scale Qualitative Analysis”, by Eran Bar and colleagues. It highlights an increase in students’ grades, particularly in mathematics and science, fewer opportunities for cheating on tests – enabling schools to obtain more accurate data on students’ performance – and fewer disruptions for teachers, which improved the overall quality of classes.
The social benefits do not stop there. The document noted that face-to-face conversations increased, which contributed to the formation of deeper friendships, while conflicts such as bullying or physical fights were reduced, and participation in physical activities also increased.
Banning phones in schools seems to have been right on target. If this policy has proven beneficial to the school environment, is it reasonable to assume that applying it to another educational setting – universities – would produce similar results?
What About Adults?
Along with freedom and, perhaps, a bachelor’s degree, adulthood also comes with responsibility. For this reason, it is not unreasonable to expect adults to manage their use of smartphones in any environment, including university classes.
It is widely recognized that smartphones can disrupt concentration not only among children and teenagers but also among adults. The study “The Use and Abuse of Cell Phones and Text Messaging in the Classroom: A Survey of College Students”, by Deborah R. Tindell and Robert W. Bohlander, discusses several consequences of using phones during university classes.
According to the authors, using phones during class can lead to loss of concentration due to multitasking, disruptions caused by notifications that affect both students and professors, the cognitive effort required to refocus after interruptions – known as “switch cost” – as well as cheating, sedentary behavior, and social anxiety.
Paradoxically, banning phones in universities is not fully supported by professors. This is the view of Tânia Teixeira Pinto, professor and coordinator of the journalism program at Faculdade Cásper Líbero in São Paulo, Brazil.
In an interview, the professor says that, when comparing students’ behavior before and after smartphones became widespread, it is clear that their attention became indeed split between classes and their phones; consequently, this affects their concentration and learning.
However, she highlights that this pattern is not limited to students but applies to people in general, noting that she observes the same behavior during work meetings. For this reason, she argues that it is essential to engage the audience, whether they are students or not.
When asked how she feels about seeing a student on their phone during class, she says she feels disrespected, but at the same time argues that it is not the professor’s role to teach students how to behave politely or to be responsible for their actions, which are attributes of adulthood. She also mentions that getting distracted in class is not exclusive to today’s generation, adding that it was already common when she was a student – though with books instead of phones.
Despite this pattern, she notes that phones can be useful in her classes because they serve as a tool for journalistic reporting. They allow students to verify information, checking whether it is outdated or false, and also help her during classroom activities. In this way, smartphones – if their use is guided – work as a complement to the learning process.
Therefore, professor Teixeira is against the prohibition of phones in classes, and in favor of using the device pedagogically – just like most of the professors she works with. She concludes her point of view saying that, since they teach in the communication field, she can’t forbid students to access the online world, where information and ideas are being exchanged all the time.
But what do the people who would be directly affected by the policy – college students – think about it?
A Student’s Perspective
Moving away from the theoretical discussion, we interviewed a student of journalism from Faculdade Cásper Líbero to understand how banning phones in universities is viewed in practice.
Vitor Vaz, a third-semester student, says he got his first phone at the age of 11 but only started bringing it to school when he was 13. From then on, until he graduated from high school, he used the device in class.
Now that he is currently in college, Vitor says he sometimes uses his phone in class but tries not to, putting it in his pocket when he does not need it for anything important. He explains that he feels more tempted to check his phone when the class content is too dull or when the teaching method is too focused on lecturing.
When asked his opinion about banning phones at universities, Vitor affirms that he is against a full prohibition but not opposed to restrictions during class. He explains that this is partly because of the field he studies – communication – and because he still considers phones a way for people to interact, especially during breaks or at the beginning and end of class.
The student also adds that he considers this policy invasive. According to him, owning a phone is a very personal matter – since it holds messages, pictures and videos – and therefore requires privacy. In his view, this means having the right to carry the device whenever and wherever the person wants.
Vitor concludes by saying that if this rule were implemented, he would feel nervous and anxious about not having his phone around, but he believes he would still manage to handle it.
The debate over whether cell phones should be banned at universities remains open. While research highlights the negative effects of distractions and multitasking, many argue that higher education is different from the scholar one.
In adulthood, greater freedom is often accompanied by greater responsibility, which leaves the question of how phones should be used in universities controversial.
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The article above was edited by Julia Galoro.
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