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HARRISBURG, PA (Nov. 17, 2025) — The Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) supports legislation requiring public schools to adopt “bell-to-bell” policies that prohibit students (with limited exceptions) from using their smartphones and other internet-connected mobile devices during the school day, PSEA Vice President Jeff Ney testified before the state House Education and Health Committees today.

Ney said that mobile devices disrupt students from learning, facilitate cyberbullying, and are a contributing factor to student mental health issues.

“Mobile devices disrupt students from learning,” Ney said. “Your average teenager gets 237 texts per day. Think about all those pings and how many they are getting during their seven hours at school while they are supposed to be learning.”

Ney said mobile devices in classrooms also allow some students to cheat.

“I can remember a student who sat in the front row and kept his phone in the pocket of his hoodie, and he would text the answers to the kids in the back row during a test,” Ney said.

Mental Health Crisis

The country is dealing with a youth mental health crisis, Ney said, and while mobile devices are not the only factor driving the crisis, they are a contributor.

“The precipitous rise in mental health issues — like depression, anxiety, and a lack of emotional regulation — corresponds with young people’s access to mobile devices and social media,” he said.

Access to mobile devices also facilitates peer-to-peer cyber bullying, further eroding the mental health of many students, Ney said.

“Children’s brains are still developing and they can’t always control their worst impulses, like texting a picture of a fellow student and making fun of her clothes and appearance,” he said. “When students have constant access to a device that can be used to easily relieve frustration or other feelings, bad things occur.”

A Consistent Foundation

Establishing a statewide expectation that public schools will restrict the possession and use of mobile devices will provide a consistent foundation for students, Ney said.

How those policies are implemented should be left up to each individual school district, Ney said, with any statewide requirement beginning with the start of a new school year. The state should not interfere with school districts that have already successfully restricted student possession of mobile devices, he added.

“Some school entities already have policies where phones must be in bookbags or lockers,” Ney said. “Some have purchased lockable bags. Some might have classroom caddies where phones can be stored but turned off. How restriction occurs should be a decision of the districts with the input of the communities, including parents, students, and school employees.”

Ney also said that the definition of “mobile devices” should go beyond smartphones to include any internet-connected device, including various types of smartwatches, personal laptops, and tablets.

Limited Exceptions

Policies restricting mobile devices should include some limited exceptions, Ney said, for students with medical conditions, IEPs, or 504 plans as well as students who are English learners and require translation services on a mobile device.

PSEA would also support exceptions for limited instructional situations, such as lessons on the responsible and safe use of technology, Ney said.

An Evolving Position

Last month, PSEA came out in support of Senate Bill 1014 which would require school districts to adopt policies restricting the possession and use of mobile devices in Pennsylvania schools.

Prior to that, PSEA favored leaving mobile device policies to local districts to decide. Ney noted that PSEA’s position on this issue has evolved over the past 18 months as members have reviewed research and learned more about mobile device bans in other states.

“Somewhere over the last 18 months, with the confluence of a myriad of factors, and as a growing number of states and school districts took more strident action on their own, our members started to believe that Pennsylvania could and should put the genie back in the bottle, as they say,” Ney said.

Read Ney’s written testimony.

Ney is a Wilkes-Barre Area elementary teacher and vice president of PSEA. An affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents about 177,000 active and retired educators and school employees, aspiring educators, higher education staff, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.