New York students banned from using phones first hated, then loved it

About 70% of high school teachers and one-third of middle school teachers say that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classrooms, according to the Pew Research Center. But there’s hope. Samuels, the KIPP NYC College Prep principal, said it took less than a year after the ban for academic performance to improve. — Dreamstime/TNS

Signs of withdrawal began to show immediately.

At a high school in upstate New York that had banned mobile phones, a student was constantly reaching for her nonexistent device and grabbing air. Hallways rang with the sound of kids trying to smash locks and get to their devices. At another school in the Bronx, students plotted a protest.