Ohio Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted emphasized the transformative impact of banning cell phones in schools during an appearance Thursday on Newsmax, citing improvements in student focus, mental health, and school culture.
Husted, voiced strong support for restricting school cell phone use, highlighting its benefits for students' academic performance and mental well-being. Speaking on "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," Husted stressed the importance of such policies in fostering a healthier educational environment.
"Well, the evidence is clear," Husted said. "Cell phone and smartphone use in schools undermines educational attainment. It leads to bullying and mental health problems. There's an abundance of evidence of this. And so, we have aggressively asked our schools in the state to develop cell phone policies, smartphone policies, where they would restrict them."
Husted noted that the implementation of these policies has been widely adopted.
"Now it's up to the local school district to design the particular policy, but most of them have gone to complete bans. Sixty-one percent of our schools have put policies in place. And this is wonderful. You're hearing great responses from school principals, parents, [and] students," he added.
Surprisingly, students themselves have welcomed the change, Husted said. "The students surprisingly say, yes, save us from ourselves. These things are really just distracting in our lives. They don't want to give them up on their own because they don't want to give up their phone when their friends have all their phones. But as long as no one has a phone, it works out just great in classrooms, and it really improves the whole culture of the school."
Addressing concerns about emergencies, Husted reassured parents that traditional methods of communication remain effective.
"For nearly 250 years, we handled it just fine. We've been able to call the school office and have them reach the student in case of [an] emergency. And it's worked out great," he said.
He also noted an unexpected social benefit.
"One of the principals said to us, 'The biggest difference we noticed is that the lunchrooms are actually noisy again. Kids are not just fixated on their phones. They're interacting with other children.' It works out great," Husted said, adding that parents, teachers, principals, and students overwhelmingly support the policy.
Husted criticized smartphones' addictive nature, particularly for children, arguing that social media algorithms exploit young users for profit. The [software] algorithms target them and try to addict them to their platforms. That's what happens. It's a business model that has made companies billions of dollars, and it's time for the adults to step in and say, let's save our kids from this," he stated.
Urging communities to prioritize education over distractions, Husted concluded, "If we want our kids to perform better academically, these are a real source of mental health challenges for kids. America, in our schools, let's focus on education and not on the algorithms and the bullying and all the things that come with smartphones."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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