Digital Voices: Exploring High School Students' Reactions to U.S. School Phone Bans

The purpose of this study was to examine how U.S. high school students discuss school phone policies on Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit. Focusing on academic performance, their mental health, and peer relationships. Prior research showed that students' voices remain underrepresented, although they are the ones being affected by these phone policies. Another gap was that most research focused on surveys instead of looking at digital discussions, where research has proven people tend to answer more honestly. Data was collected through non-experimental mixed methods. Analysis of 75 posts, comments, and videos, with 25 from each app, to ensure consistency. It consisted of student-generated data from January 2025 to February 2026. Initial results showed that the majority of students have a negative sentiment towards phone bans. Policy ineffectiveness and student safety were the most prominent topics being discussed. Students reported that phone bans did not reduce distractions but instead described how students often bypassed it. These responses show that many students perceive phone bans as ineffective in addressing the concerns many policies aim to fix. Furthermore, most stated peer interactions did not increase and remained the same with or without phones. Lastly, mental health seems to be a problem among students who tend to be more shy and don't have friends in classes. So they feel more socially isolated. In conclusion, Student discussions among these three apps show that the phone ban does not fully address students' concerns. Future research should expand the sample size by using more apps and compare student digital discussions with teachers and administrators to better understand the overall impact of the phone ban.