AFT-NH Testimony on SB 206
From Debrah Howes, President AFT-NH
Thank you, Chairman Ward and Members of the Senate Education Committee, for reading my testimony.
My name is Debrah Howes. I am the president of the American Federation of Teachers-NH. AFT-NH represents 3,500 teachers, paraeducators and school support staff, public service employees and higher education staff across the Granite State. We work with close to 30,000 students in public schools across the state, all of them entitled to a robust public education, which is their constitutional right as Granite State citizens.
I am here today to express our support for SB 206.
AFT-NH supports SB 206 because giving our educators and students distraction free learning time to focus on learning during the school day is just good common sense.
We support this bill because the current system isn’t working. As cell phones have become a common, and constant companion for teens, preteens, and even some elementary school students, the issues this causes in our classrooms have multiplied. Cell phones have become a distraction from the learning tasks at hand, competing with the teacher for the attention of students. With ready access to social media aps, student cell phone use during the school day can increase student anxiety, add to feelings of stress, decrease in-person communication and inflame incidents of cyberbullying.
Many districts do not have a uniform policy on student cell phone use. When left up to the individual teacher to develop a policy for their own classroom and enforce that policy, it can lead to power struggles with students over their use of cell phones. Some students defy an individual teacher’s ban on cell phones, and without strong back up from administration, that is hard to enforce. Other students find excuses to leave the room and sneak cell phone time. Cell phones are addictive for some students, and they fear missing out. This fuels student anxiety, lowers students’ sense of well-being and can exacerbate bullying issues.
Some data to illustrate the extent of the problem:
According to a 2024 Pew Research study, nearly half of US teens are on the internet almost constantly, including during school hours. Much of this constant connection takes place through the students’ cell phones. Much of this time is spent using social media apps.
A 2023 Common Sense Media Research report Constant Companion: A Week In the Life of a Young Person’s Smartphone Use found that an average teen received 237 notifications on their phones each day. About one-quarter of those came during the school day.
That same study found that almost all of the students surveyed used their cell phones during the school day – even when there was a classroom policy against it. The average amount of time students used cell phones during the day added up to 43 minutes. Some used their phones for more than 6 hours at school.
Most of the time when students are using their phones at school it is for social media, You Tube or gaming.
More than 7 in 10 high school teachers say students being distracted by their cell phones in the classroom was a big problem, according to a 2024 Pew Research survey.
Approving this law will provide school districts with clear guidelines for adopting consistent policies to take back learning time from cell phone distractions. Consistent policies, with clearcut rules to cover any necessary exceptions will reduce student anxiety, as well as conflicts between students. It will lessen inappropriate behavior by students as they challenge individual teachers’ attempts to limit cell phone usage in a single classroom at a time.
Research has shown that banning student cell phone use at school is one single yet impactful step that does enhance student educational outcomes, behavior and well-being. It is an opportunity to provide our public school students with an average of seven hours each school day to be fully present and free from distractions and the pressures and harms of phones and social media.
For these reasons, we urge you to find SB206 Ought to Pass.
Thank you,
Debrah Howes,
President, AFT-New Hampshire