Smartphone usage will be restricted in public schools starting next fall after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed House and Senate bills into law Feb. 10.
House Bill 4141, passed in January, bans smartphone usage across all grades during instructional time, with exceptions for phones without internet access, students with medical and learning needs, and in cases of emergencies. The Senate passed a separate bill, Senate Bill 495, ordering public schools and districts to implement plans for the handling of emergency situations in schools.
“There isn’t a teacher, school administrator, or parent out there that doesn’t know that learning and scrolling on your smartphone are incompatible,” Republican Rep. Mark Tisdel, who represents Rochester and Rochester Hills and first sponsored the House bill, told The Collegian.
Tisdel’s bill passed in the House 99-10 and in the Senate 34-1.
“It involved a lot of other people on both sides of the aisle. The governor enthusiastically endorsed the idea and actually asked for bipartisan legislation in her last State of the State,” Tisdel said. “So all the pieces fell together, and it was a great way to start off the legislative year with a big, overwhelming bipartisan win in both chambers, and it will really help students by eliminating smartphone distractions during instruction time.”
Tisdel first sponsored a House bill to restrict cellphone use in schools in June 2023. He previously intended the bill to prohibit cellphones completely for elementary schoolers, from the beginning to the end of the school day for middle schoolers, and during instructional time for high schoolers.
Tisdel worked with Democrat Sen. Dayna Polehanki, chair of the Senate Education Committee, to compromise and prohibit cellphones and communication devices only during instructional time for all grades, with allowances during passing periods and other non-educational times. The bill also makes exceptions for the use of cellphones for educational reasons and for emergencies
“This bill addresses some of the concerns districts and parents had in regards to allowing cellphone usage during an emergency or a class assignment in which a teacher requests usage for educational purposes,” Rep. Jennifer Wortz, who represents Hillsdale and Branch counties, said in a statement to The Collegian.
Alexis Zeiler, a chemistry and physical education teacher at Jonesville High School, said her school does not allow cellphones in the classroom. She said she has seen a “net positive” effect on students since the school implemented the ban two years ago.
“From my perspective, teaching with and without cellphones in the classroom, there is a dramatic difference as far as student concentration and how much more classwork we get through. There’s less drama. There’s less bullying. There’s less distractions,” Zeiler said. “There’s less teachers having to take time to chase down kids that are on social media or some other inappropriate thing they’re doing.”
Tisdel said he is following up on the bill with two more House bills, one that would require age verification and a parent or guardian to consent to social media terms and conditions, and another that would impose a 32% excise tax on minors purchasing smartphones.
