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New York school phone ban has made lunch loud again
By
Jessica Gould
Published Nov 5, 2025
Modified Nov 5, 2025
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Jessica Gould/Gothamist
By
Jessica Gould
Published Nov 5, 2025
Modified Nov 5, 2025
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These days, lunchtime at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens is a boisterous affair, a far cry from before the smartphone ban went into effect, when most students spent their spare time scrolling and teachers said you could hear a pin drop.
“This year's gotten way louder,” said Jimena Garcia, 15. “Sometimes I would take naps in the lunchroom, but now I can't because of the noise. But it's fun.”
On a recent fall afternoon, Garcia and her friends crowded around a lunch table in the large cafeteria playing Jenga, occasionally shrieking and gasping as the tower began to lean and fall.
The faculty donated board games to help ease kids into the phone-free era. Student volunteers oversaw a table stacked with games: checkers, chess, Yahtzee, Scrabble, Clue, Life and Trivial Pursuit. For many of the kids, it was their first time playing the games, and they said they were enjoying it.
“ I do like how this phone ban is allowing students to just connect with each other, make new friendships,” said 17-year-old Alyssa Ko, the school president. “Because some people use their phone to just hide away.”
The ban prohibits all internet-enabled devices throughout the school day, although there are exceptions for some students with disabilities, kids learning English who need translation apps, and in cases where a teacher says a device can be used for a lesson.
Schools were given flexibility to choose their own storage plans, and Cardozo, which rolled out metal detectors this fall after a student was found with a gun, requires its 3,100 students to keep their phones in internet-blocking magnetic pouches. Other schools have installed storage lockers, or have kids keep their phones zipped up in backpacks.
As students adjust to lo-fi life, teachers seem pleased with the results. According to an October survey from the state teachers union, New York State United Teachers, 89% of school staff members said the new policies improved their schools' environments, and 76% said kids are more engaged in lessons.
“When students put down their phones, they pick up books — and build friendships,” said NYSUT president Melinda Person.
The initial feedback reflects national trends. New York is one of 31 states, plus Washington, D.C. that have banned smartphones in schools, according to an EdWeek tracker. In a national survey from the University of Pennsylvania, teachers said banning phones helps kids focus.
“Teachers seem really happy with the changes that they're seeing in the classroom with the electronic device ban,” Cardozo principal Meagan Colby said. “They're telling us that there's a lot more student interaction, a lot more discussion among students, a lot better focus. Overall productivity in the classroom and engagement is higher.”
Senior Raya Osagie, 16, said she has to “think more in class” because she used to Google answers or use artificial intelligence. “Now when we get computers, I actually have to [do] deep research instead of going straight to AI,” she said.
Students said they’ve also seen their classmates reading physical books more.
In the cafeteria, Ryan Tripathi, 16, was paging through “Lord of the Flies,” which he said is slow-going. “I'm just not used to reading,” he said. “I’m usually on my phone.”
Tripathi said it’s good that people are reading more and classroom discussions have become more lively. But he said he’s “not the biggest fan” of the smartphone ban. ”Sometimes you just want to go on your phone and you don't have the ability to do that anymore,” he said.
Enakshi Barua, 14, said she’s also opposed to the ban, on principle.
“ Students are distracted by the phones, but I also don’t believe they should take away our privileges," Barua said. "I feel like the trust isn’t there between the students and teachers. So I feel like that should be built instead of banning the phones.”
At Cardozo, a few kids break the rules, teachers said. Some either put “burner” phones in their pouches or bang them open. Shanna Burrows, who oversees restorative justice at the school, said staff members are collecting around 30 contraband phones a day. There’s a strike system with escalating punishments that include keeping phones for days, weeks or months, and meetings with parents. Under the state law, schools are not allowed to suspend students solely for smartphone-ban infractions.
Students said they have found other ways to push boundaries, like passing old-fashioned notes. “ Especially when you're trying to talk but not have the teacher notice … it would just be [that] we’d send a text message or write on our notes app,” Ko said. “Passing notes is more common now.”
Ko said other analog activities have also made a comeback, including cards, hangman, tic-tac-toe and Polaroid cameras. “There are just a lot of memories that we make throughout high school that we want to capture,” she said. “I actually have a lot of Polaroids on my wall.”
Tiana Millen, assistant principal of climate and culture, said she’d also like to see another analog technology make a comeback: the clock.
“They don't know how to read the clocks," she said. "So I make jokes with them and say, ‘We're going to have classes just on how to read the clocks.’”
If they did, she said, they’d see they’re getting to class on time more than they used to; hallway traffic is moving better now that kids aren’t so focused on their phones.
This story has been updated.
Tagged
education
new york city schools
new york state
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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