Mastodawn

Oxford Hills students look back at a full year under a cellphone ban

Story by Jacob Murphy
April 14, 2026

Excerpt: " 'It's gotten easier. You get used to it. It's just like a new habit,' said Joseph Bobrowski, a sophomore at the school.

"Inside a world history class, students are working on a group project based on the Industrial Revolution. There were no phones in sight, which would have been unusual to see a year ago.

" 'Everyone would be on their phones, be it texting, gaming, but now there's a lot of people actually talking and laughing,' said Caelynn St. Laurent, a sophomore.

" 'It's kind of reminiscent of pre-cellphone, in terms of kids interacting with each other and just being kids, which is great,' said school principal Paul Bickford.

"It follows the logic of a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The report tracks schools that use lockable pouches for phones, a system that was implemented at Portland High School."

#SmartphoneBan #LetKidsBeKids #BellToBell #TeenMentalHealth #MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TechAddiction #LetKidsBeKids

MSN

DoomsdaysCW May 15

I don't quite get #JanetMills. She vetoed the #DatacenterMoratorium, but passes a #CellPhoneBan in schools. 🤷🏼 I want to say, "Good for her," but...

#Maine public schools will soon be required to #BanPhones during school day

by Max Williams, WGME
Mon, April 13, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Updated Thu, April 16, 2026

PORTLAND (WGME) -- "By August 1, all Maine public schools will be required to ban phones for the entire school day.

" 'It's a distraction, and they are there to learn,' phone ban supporter Dan Melnick said.

"Signed into law as part of Governor Janet Mills' supplemental budget, it will allocate more than $300,000 to implement. The new policy is a '#BellToBell' policy, meaning phones are allowed on school property but cannot be used at any point during the school day."

[...]

"Experts say too much screen time has been linked to depression and, in some cases, suicide.

" 'It is very dangerous, because we're talking about people whose brains are not fully developed, and as it develops, it's creating certain neurocircuitry that is hard to undo,' Northern Light Acadia Hospital Medical Director of Pediatric Inpatient Services Dr. Nadia Mendiola said."

#MainePol #CellPhoneBans #PutThePhoneDown #SmartPhoneAddiction #TooMuchScreenTime #TeenMentalHealth #LetKidsBeKids

Maine public schools will soon be required to ban phones during school day

By August 1, all Maine public schools will be required to ban phones for the entire school day.

WGME

Mayor of Nerdocrumbesia 🏡May 4

Don't be this guy. His memory of this amazing performance will be of his shitty little phone screen!

#BethHart #PutThePhoneDown #MakeMemories

Jason Stiff Mar 4, 2025

As you watch this on your mobile phone, try to avoid letting it control your life... especially the lives of your kids.

#phone #mobilephone #socialmedia #control #addiction #putthephonedown #freeyourself #gooutside #liveyourbestlife #liveyourlife

cpsask Nov 9, 2023

First step to being more disconnected. One less reason to pick up my phone during the day. Freedom from instant notifications. #disconnect #putthephonedown