"Ban phones during school to boost grades Early research on school phone bans shows the strongest academic gains come from full-day, bell-to-bell bans rather than classroom-by-classroom policies, because blanket rules preserve lunch and passing periods for real social interaction, reduce teacher enforcement burden, and eliminate the drama that feeds mental health problems. Twenge also cites PISA data showing that countries where students used devices for leisure during the school day experienced steeper declines in standardized test scores — declines that began around 2012, not from the pandemic. She states bluntly: "Get phones out of your schools — that's going to help significantly" for academic performance. Source: Jean Twenge, The Happiness Lab, Social Media and Teen Mental Health"