As school systems nationwide look for ways to boost learning and cut down on distractions, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is encouraging more of them to take a bold step — limit student access to phones during the school day. He recently visited a Virginia school with Gov. Glenn Youngkin where such policies are already in place and said the results speak for themselves.
Kennedy described the environment in phone-free classrooms as calmer, healthier and better for learning. His comments came during a Fox & Friends interview where he emphasized the connection between heavy phone use and student struggles both academically and emotionally.
Nine states have already taken the lead on this issue by putting laws in place to limit phone use during school hours. These include states like Louisiana, Indiana, Virginia and Minnesota. While each state approaches the policy differently, all share the goal of making school a more focused and productive environment.
BREAKING: RFK Jr. has announced that he is working with states to REMOVE cellphones from school.
“Cell phone use and social media use on the cell phone has been directly connected with depression, poor performance in schools, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse.”
He is… pic.twitter.com/9LzBS4L909
— Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) March 21, 2025
Public support has followed. A Talker Research poll found that 70% of Americans believe phones should be banned from schools. Of those, nearly 8 in 10 said the primary reason was the impact phones have on student learning. The most common reason given by those who opposed the ban was wanting to stay in touch with their children.
Kennedy’s broader message focused on the mental health risks linked to phones, including research connecting excessive use to depression, substance abuse and even suicidal thinking. While his warnings about electromagnetic radiation received criticism from some health experts, Kennedy has continued to promote classroom policies that put students’ well-being first.
The National Institutes of Health — part of Kennedy’s own department — has said that current evidence does not support a cancer risk from cell phone use. But for Kennedy, the focus remains on the immediate benefits schools are seeing when they remove phones from the equation.
Pew Research Center polling found that 68% of adults support removing phones from classrooms, and more than a third said they believe the ban should last the entire school day.
