Opinion: Schools need to ban cellphones

Excessive use of smartphones and social media is linked to rising rates of teenage depression and self-harm, while also damaging students’ academic performance and exacerbating achievement gaps. — Dreamstime/TNS

Ask any parent about the time their kids spend on mobile devices, and you’ll likely hear the same refrain: It’s too much.

Excessive use of smartphones and social media is linked to rising rates of teenage depression and self-harm, while also damaging students’ academic performance and exacerbating achievement gaps. At this point, the question isn’t whether phones should be banned from classrooms, but why more schools haven’t done so already.