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With the rapid pace of new technologies, we sometimes forget to step back and see how it’s affecting society and if limits are sometimes needed.

That’s the case with the use of cellphones in classrooms. Many people who don’t have kids in school may have assumed that phones in classrooms have always been prohibited, but that’s often not the case.

Now, more school districts and states are stepping up to do the right thing by implementing strict rules for phones, such as “turned off and out of sight.”

Last year, the Mankato Area Public School board unanimously voted to implement a policy that bans the use of cellphones during instructional time. The ban was prompted by feedback from teachers and administrators who noted phones were distracting and hindered learning.

Locally, high school students can still use their phone during passing time between classes and at lunch, while elementary kids can’t use them at all during the school day.

In Minnesota, a new law kicked in this month that requires all schools to have cellphone policies in place by next March. The law doesn’t require schools to ban cellphone use, just to have a clear policy in place.

But schools should ban cellphones in classrooms during instructional times.

More states, including Utah, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and California, are pushing for restrictions on phone use in all schools. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending letters to school districts, urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus.

Bans aren’t foolproof. Kids can hide phones on their laps, and even when bans are in place not all schools are steadfast in enforcing the rules.

But it should be clear that cellphones don’t belong in classrooms. For the good of students and teachers, more states need to push for bans.

— Mankato Free Press, Aug. 20