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Cara Swit, University of Canterbury; Aaron Hapuku, University of Canterbury; Helena Cook, University of Canterbury, and Jennifer Smith, University of CanterburyOne year after the government banned cellphones from schools to help students focus and reduce distractions in class, we’re beginning to see how it has been implemented and how successful it’s been.
As part of that process, our new research asked young people about the ban. Unsurprisingly, they had a lot to say.
Schools around the world, including in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, China and parts of the United States, have implemented similar bans. The guiding principle everywhere has been to help students do better in school.
When New Zealand’s ban came into effect in April 2024, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was time to cut the distractions so kids could learn and achieve.
But studies have shown these bans often don’t work as planned. For example, recent research from the UK involving over 1,200 students found no significant difference in academic grades or wellbeing between schools with strict phone bans and those with more relaxed policies.
With so many questions at the time of the ban about how it would be enforced, we wanted to hear what was going on in schools and what young people really thought. We spoke to 77 young people aged 12 to 18 from 25 schools around the country. Some liked the bans,...
