According to local newspaper Gothamist, teachers said many teenage students struggle to tell the time without their phones, even though classrooms have analog clocks.
“It’s a source of frustration because everyone wants to know how many minutes are left in class,” Madi Mornhinweg, a high school English teacher in Manhattan, told Gothamist. “It finally got to the point where I started saying, ‘Where’s the big hand and where’s the little hand?'”
Some students said they learned how to read clocks in elementary school but later forgot the skill, viewing it as outdated in a digital-first environment.
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Teenage boys useing phones. Photo from Pexels |
Fourteen-year-old Cheyenne Francis, a student at Midwood High School in Brooklyn, said she can still read a clock, but many of her peers have forgotten the skill because they previously relied on their phones to check the time.
“That’s a major skill that they’re not used to at all,” Tiana Millen, an assistant principal at Cardozo High School in Queens, said. “They don’t know how to read the clocks.”
The cellphone ban took effect on Sept. 4 for the 2025–26 school year and requires students to store phones in “school-assigned personal or shared lockers” or cellphone pouches. The policy aims to reduce classroom distractions, address student mental health concerns, and curb cyberbullying, according to The New York Times.
Mark Rampersant, chief of safety for New York City Schools, described the ban as “long overdue,” while acknowledging some “growing pains” as students adjust to being separated from their devices.
Beyond difficulty telling the time, students and educators reported other drawbacks. Some students previously used their phones to organize after-school activities, manage daily schedules, or contact family members in emergencies.
Teachers, however, said the ban has delivered clear benefits, helping students focus better in class, socialize more during lunch, and move more efficiently through hallways. It has also been linked to improved punctuality, with students getting to class on time, as reported by the New York Post.
Aidan Amin, a ninth-grader at Hunter College High School, said that with phones off-limits, he now gathers with friends in the school foyer during lunch to play tabletop games. “I’d say it’s made us closer,” Aidan told New York Magazine. “Honestly, half the people I’m playing board games with I didn’t know at all before this.”
