School phone bans expand to 114 countries worldwide: UNESCO

A growing number of countries are moving to restrict mobile phone use in schools, with more than half now enforcing national bans as concerns rise over classroom distraction and online harm, according to UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring team.

According to the team, 114 education systems now enforce national-level restrictions, accounting for 58% of countries.

"Recent global monitoring shows that 114 education systems now have a national ban on mobile phones in schools, representing 58% of countries worldwide. The expansion has been rapid. Less than 1 in 4 countries (24%) had bans in June 2023, when it was first monitored in the 2023 GEM Report. By early 2025, this had risen to 40%, and by March 2026, that share is almost 20 percentage points higher," a senior member of GEM said.

The report attributes the surge in restrictions to increasing worries about the effects of digital exposure on children.

"The growth reflects mounting concerns about declining attention in classrooms, cyberbullying, and the broader influence of digital environments on children. But the global picture is more nuanced than a simple shift toward prohibition," the official added.

Countries such as Bolivia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Georgia, the Maldives, and Malta have introduced national bans since late 2025, continuing the upward trend.

France, which implemented one of the earliest school phone bans, is now reviewing whether additional measures are required. A proposal under consideration in its parliament seeks to establish clearer rules on smartphone use in schools.

UNESCO noted that approaches vary across countries. In many cases, restrictions apply only during school hours or within classrooms, with exceptions for educational purposes or specific groups such as students with medical needs. Some systems require devices to be switched off and stored.

In contrast, countries including Comoros, Colombia, Estonia, Lithuania, Iceland, Peru, Indonesia, Serbia, Poland, and the Philippines have opted to let schools frame their own policies to regulate phone use rather than imposing a nationwide ban.

In decentralized systems, restrictions often begin at regional levels. In the United States, where no nationwide ban exists, 39 states have introduced regulations requiring school districts to limit phone use in classrooms.

"Most of the other states have filed bills to regulate phone use as well. These cases show how policy change often starts locally before spreading nationally," the report said.

The findings also underline concerns about social media’s impact on young people, particularly girls. Girls are reported to be twice as likely as boys to experience eating disorders linked to social media use.

Research by Facebook found that 32% of teenage girls felt worse about their bodies after using Instagram.

The report also flagged patterns in content exposure, stating that TikTok’s algorithm delivers body image-related content to teenagers every 39 seconds and promotes eating disorder-related content every eight minutes.

It added that early exposure to social media, particularly around age 10, is associated with worsening socioemotional outcomes later, a trend not observed among boys.

"As a result, some countries have implemented or are considering restrictions on social media use for children, including legislation in Australia, France, Portugal, and Spain, as well as discussions in Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Indonesia," the report said.