Those of us who have been around for a few decades remember school hallways filled with a tumultuous ambient sound: dozens or hundreds of children talking, whispering, and joking between classes to catch up on the latest news… at least until math class rolled around. However, this white noise seems to have disappeared in recent years—like the sound of cicadas in summer.
The hallways of educational institutions now have far fewer decibels during breaks. Most students walk with their heads down, illuminated by blue light as they wander like digital zombies to their next class or the cafeteria.
Those of us who lived through the transition to cell phones while in high school could clearly see who had a BlackBerry in class: while a person without a cell phone might be daydreaming, staring at a corner of the ceiling, these new digital drug addicts (excuse my French) were for some reason looking straight at their groin, both hands under their desk, and quietly making clicking noises. They were the minority then, but now this tech plague is ubiquitous.
New Jersey’s blunt approach to phone addiction in class
This writer has been out of high school for more than 10 years, but it is understandable that the situation has become untenable. That’s why in the Ramsay, New Jersey, school district, Superintendent Andrew Matteo has said enough is enough. So this January 2026, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed radical legislation: starting next school year, the use of cell phones in public schools throughout the state of New Jersey will be strictly prohibited. It’s not a suggestion, it’s a mandate.
If you’re already feeling the withdrawal symptoms your teenager will experience when school starts next September, here are some techniques and strategies to try to improve their cell phone addiction.
Although the law is being signed now, it will officially come into effect for the 2026-2027 academic year. Schools have until July 1 of this year to implement their protocols as they see fit, but students will not feel the real change until they start in September. No one is spared: it affects public school students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
However, New Jersey is not remotely a pioneer in this type of legislation; there are already some 37 states that have some type of restriction or guidelines on the use of devices in their classrooms. However, New Jersey is one of those that has decided to bite the bullet and be strict with restrictions, as the state of Florida has done. We can make a wish as if it were a shooting star, since both Democrats and Republicans have given unusual bipartisan support to this measure.
How to wean your child off their cell phone
If we wait until September to deal with the digital dopamine withdrawal all at once, the withdrawal symptoms our poor children will experience will be brutal. For a generation that feels that the digital world is more real than their own physical world, having their cell phone taken away for hours will make them consider school to be a maximum security prison. However, they have given us several months’ advance notice, so as parents we have the opportunity to use this law as an excuse to improve habits at home… including our own.
To do this, we can use several strategies. A very common one is to create a “central charging station” in the kitchen or living room. Cell phones should never be left on the nightstand, but should be left charging outside the bedrooms. Instead of using our cell phones as alarms, we should buy two analog alarm clocks, one for each member of the household.
Just as 100 years ago it was forbidden—or at least considered bad manners—to read letters or the newspaper at the table, it is a good idea to have both lunch and dinner in a screen-free zone. In return, lunches will become social events where children (and of course, parents) interact with each other, practice their social skills, and maintain a more sincere emotional connection, instead of eating pensively while looking at their cell phones.
Finally, we recommend that you appeal to their rebelliousness, something innate in adolescence. Change the narrative: you are not taking away their cell phone because you are their parent and you are evil, but because you two are fighting against the algorithm. Explain to them that there are software engineers in Silicon Valley who earn millions of dollars a year to design algorithms that cost them their attention. This won’t sit well with rebellious teenagers, so they will be much more willing to go against the grain, as long as they know exactly what the grain is.