Many teenagers are addicted to their smartphones through no fault of their own. But teachers in the Santa Barbara Unified School District are tired of competing with screens for their students’ attention.

On Monday, high school students began the new school year by turning their cell phones into “cell phone hotels.” Whether those hotels are charging stations, clear boxes or a pocket chart, they put distractions out of students’ reach in the classroom.

Although enforcing this policy is easier said than done, cell phones are “turned off and away” throughout the district, a policy the Santa Barbara Teachers Association (SBTA) implemented several years ago that grew out of discussions with the district about the impact of cell phone use on instruction, student engagement, and classroom management.

“We saw the negative impact the devices were having on our students and knew we had to make a change,” SBTA leadership said. “The more the policy is supported systemwide, the more benefits we will see for students.”

The guideline is implemented in all grades, but this year it has been further developed in secondary schools.

San Marcos High School was the first school to implement a school-wide hotel policy to create uniformity across all grades. Teachers’ methods varied before and still vary across grade levels. Some used hotels, while others simply required that phones be turned off and out of sight.

Consistently enforcing this policy was difficult. Some teachers had more trouble than others keeping students on task. Teachers reported that students lied about having a phone or placed other items in the hotels to trick them.

“During a class with students in a mandatory art class, chaos reigned,” Jesse Resnick, co-director of the Santa Barbara Free School, said of the time he worked as a substitute teacher at a local high school. “Students refused to leave their phones in the ‘hotel,’ played mobile games, and scrolled through TikTok. Some sat hunched over, engrossed in Netflix.”

“But blaming teenagers and cell phones is too simplistic, even though cell phone use is a symptom of several deep-rooted problems in education,” he acknowledged.

However, the district’s three high school principals acknowledged the breadth of research showing the impact of cell phones on students’ ability to concentrate, grades and declining mental health, with increased screen time putting them at higher risk for developing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Principals met last year and thought, “Maybe we should all implement cell hotels,” said Bill Woodard, principal at Dos Pueblos. This year, all three high schools are implementing cell hotels schoolwide. They hope it sends the message that classroom learning is the top priority.

“If the phone beeps in your pocket, it can take up to 20 minutes for you to be able to concentrate again,” Woodard said.

According to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media, the average student receives 60 notifications during the school day and spends about 43 minutes—the length of a class period—on the phone.

Woodard said most kids know it’s a problem and understand the “why” behind the cell phone hotels. “It gets students to recognize and rethink their relationship with technology,” Woodard said. “We’re an educational institution that’s grappling with the positive and negative impacts that technology has on learning. The evidence is there; now it’s about what we do about it.”

If students repeatedly break the rules – even after a few visits to the office – they will no longer be allowed to bring their phones in at all, according to Woodard, something some parents have already requested.

But Woodard also recognized the “underlying violence in schools” across the country. Students are allowed to use their cell phones in emergencies. In addition, students with special needs, such as diabetics who use their cell phones to monitor their insulin levels, are considered exceptions to this rule. When students are in class, parents can reach them through the office.

Assistant Principal ShaKenya Edison said school-wide cell phone hotels are gaining traction across the district. And it’s not just about phones — it also includes headphones, smartwatches and other technology.

But Santa Barbara and many other districts have realized that to successfully get students off their phones, they must get to the heart of the problem. Edison said they are treating cell phone use as an addiction, not defiance.

“We try to consider the physical impact of having phones in the hand, but also the mental aspect,” she explained. “We help students identify why they’re pulling out their phones, whether it’s social anxiety or stress about a task they’re working on. We ask, ‘What are they escaping from?’ to help them move toward self-management.”

The “off and away” policy was the result not only of complaints from teachers about distractions, but also from parents who were having the same experiences at home. To truly address the problem, Edison said, the district took an “all-systems” approach that involved parents, students and pediatricians and shared resources to monitor screen use outside the classroom.

“We have students for 180 days, but they are part of the community for 365 days,” she said.

Schools across the state have now banned the use of cell phones in class, largely due to a 2019 law that allows such bans. In addition, Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter last week calling on school districts to restrict cell phone use in class at the start of the new school year. Newsom even praised Santa Barbara Unified in the letter.

“Schools and districts, including Santa Barbara Unified and Bullard High in Fresno, have seen positive effects of restricting smartphones on campus. Some reported better test scores, higher grades and increased student engagement, as well as less bullying and damage to school facilities,” wrote Governor Newsom.

Edison confirmed this, saying students are more engaged and parents are “receptive and grateful.” However, they are still monitoring whether the policy also has a positive impact on academic performance.

In preparation for the new school year, Santa Barbara Unified School District principals are communicating with families to share policies and expectations for students. Woodard said parents are “overall happy” with the policy, but he is still waiting for feedback from students.

“We’ll see when we start having cross-class assemblies – maybe I’ll get booed,” he laughed.