The start of the 2024-2025 school year in September saw the introduction of Ontario’s ban on cell phones in the classroom, among the toughest of its kind in Canada. The ban has been a long time coming, and it has been a time of significant adjustment for school administration, teachers, and students.
Back in April 2024, the Ontario government announced this ‘new’ cell phone ban for elementary and high school students. On June 27, 2024, the Provincial Code of Conduct, Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) 128, was amended to include the new directive.
In an effort to curb distractions and enhance student focus, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 must keep their phones away and on silent mode when at school, while students in Grades 7 to 12 can only access their phones during lunch breaks and between classes. Social media sites will also be banned on all school networks and devices. However, students may require their phones for health and medical purposes or to support special education needs. Similarly, educators can grant permission to students to use their devices for educational purposes.
The new policy expects that students will hand over their device when a teacher asks them to do so, to be stored in a designated location. If a student disobeys, they will be sent to the principal’s office. However, enforcement may prove to be difficult, considering Ontario attempted a similar ban in 2019.
In an August 29, 2024 press conference, incumbent Minister of Education Jill Dunlop acknowledged that “[t]his is a new initiative and it is a culture change that’s happening in our classrooms." Ms. Dunlop conceded that “enforcement is going to be a big issue," but she pointed to existing disciplinary policies as a sufficient means for educators to enforce the ban.
Is cell phone addiction a reality?
Ontario’s cell phone policy has come into effect after several Ontario school boards and independent schools launched separate yet similar Superior Court actions against social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram (now owned by Meta), Snapchat, and TikTok (ByteDance). The plaintiffs, organized as “Schools for Social Media Change,” allege that classroom cell phone and social media use have contributed to the youth mental health crisis across the country. In a March 28, 2024 press release, they alleged that the platforms are “negligently designed for compulsive use [and] have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn, leaving educators and schools to manage the fallout.”
For reference, the 2023 CAMH Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey found that the vast majority (94%) of students in Grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and about one-quarter (23%) of students spend five hours or more on social media daily. Similarly, over three-quarters (78%) of students spend three hours or more per day in front of an electronic screen in their free time.
Does this policy go far enough?
Cell phones, although ubiquitous tools of modern communication and learning, have long been a contentious issue in schools. While teachers and administrators generally welcome the policy, they note the constant challenge of enforcing classroom discipline and the impossibility of forcing students to surrender their phones. Others argue that cell phones can be used as learning tools. As the province moves forward with this “common sense” measure, it will be important to maintain a balanced approach that recognizes the importance of both traditional academic skills and the technological competencies required in modern education.
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