How Portland high schools are tackling digital distractions

By Priya Klein ‘26

Scrolling through TikTok in class may quickly become a thing of the past. With Portland high schools cracking down on phone use, students are increasingly being forced to find new ways to engage–and some aren’t happy about it.

Catlin Gabel School’s updated phone policy comes as a part of a broader trend sweeping high schools across the country–implementing stricter rules to curb cell phone use in the classroom.

Cell phones are a proven distraction for students and impair learning. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that “ringing cell phones in the class were the most commonly reported electronic external distractor for 68% of students.” As the digital age accelerates, institutions are struggling to hastily implement their own solutions to the issue.

Beyond the risk of distraction that cell phones pose to students, many schools also fear the behavioral and social impacts of phone use in the learning environment, such as cyberbullying and social isolation.

Approaches to regulating phone use vary greatly across the country–from phone sleeves to outright bans–but few seem to be entirely effective.

In Portland, different high schools are grappling with this challenge in their own ways. I interviewed high school students from Catlin Gabel High School, St. Mary’s Academy, and Grant High School to better understand how each is reckoning with the daunting task of regulating phone use.

This year Catlin instituted a phone policy that is more discrete and rigid, designed to spark a campus-wide culture shift around device usage.

The policy was reintroduced in a back-to-school email sent by Head of Upper School Derek Kanarek, which reiterated the rules first implemented midway through last school year. “Every Upper School class will have a universal expectation that students will place their phone in a cell phone organizer hanging on the wall near the door,” wrote Kanarek.

In previous iterations of the policy, students were required to keep their phones stored, but the enforcement was less consistent and largely up to individual teachers. The new policy has been framed by Kanarek as “another step forward to ensure that students are learning and being in community with as little distraction as possible.”

However, student participation is imperative in order for this cultural shift to succeed. Catlin student, Meret Pajkic ‘26 shared that the overall student reception has been “pretty negative,” making such a significant cultural shift less feasible.

Like many other students, Pajkic hasn’t experienced a significant impact on her learning. “I haven’t been noticing a huge difference in my productivity or anything like that,” she said. She also expressed frustration with the strictness of the policy in non-academic settings, such as C&C and assembly, calling it “too serious.” Instead, Pajkic would like a future policy built on trust, where “steps should be taken if that trust is broken.”

St. Mary’s Academy, another private school, has recently implemented a similar policy, and the sentiment there seems more mixed. Students are required to silence or turn off their phones and store them in designated phone sleeves. If students forget their phones at home, some teachers require that students check in at the school’s office to retrieve a laminated paper “phone” as a placeholder for the day.

St. Mary’s student, Asa Makler ‘25, finds the policy relatively “lax” and dependent on individual teachers’ enforcement. “It’s kind of a give-and-take with teachers,” they explained. Still, they noted that St. Mary’s students generally follow the rules and there’s a clear expectation to place phones in the designated area.

Interestingly, they observed that the resistance to the policy mostly comes from freshmen who may have had more phone access at their previous schools. As for effectiveness, Makler believes the policy works well overall. “I would say it definitely minimizes distractions,” they said. “I’m happy with where it is now. I think it makes total sense.”

Meanwhile, Portland Public Schools has been working on a districtwide phone policy, leaving many public high schools in Portland to solve the issue independently. Grant High School is among the strictest of these schools, implementing the infamous “Yondr” pouches this year. These ominous pouches are meant to magnetically lock phones and other small devices away for an extended period of time, all while taking the form of a deceivingly benign-looking synthetic rubber bag.

Grant's policy requires students to place their phones in Yondr pouches before they even enter campus in the morning. Phones are locked up in the morning and unlocked only at the end of the school day, with students responsible for bringing and maintaining their pouches. Violations can result in both disciplinary and financial consequences.

Grant student, Carson Paustian ‘25, has mixed feelings about the policy. On the positive side, he’s noticed a significant shift in the social environment. “It’s definitely helped some people socialize,” he said. “People in class don’t just scroll on their phones–they actually talk to people. People open up. My classes have been so much more communicative and people feel more comfortable sharing out.”

Additionally, Paustian has noticed an improvement in productivity at the school. “I hate to say it, but I’ve noticed that I’ve been able to complete twice the amount of work in study hall as I was last year. I’m definitely not as distracted and I see other students aren’t as distracted.”

However, the strictness of the policy is a major sticking point for students. “Kids hate it,” Paustian admitted. “They’re super strict about it. There’s no first strike or second strike, it’s just completely taken away.” He believes students should at least have phone access during lunch or in emergencies.

Despite these frustrations, Paustian thinks that the policy is mostly effective but could benefit from some minor tweaks in leniency.

While all three schools have implemented a new phone policy this year, they each reflect varying levels of trust held between the administration and students.

Private schools like Catlin and St. Mary’s have opted for more flexible, trust-based systems, relying on an overall compliant student body. Whereas, Grant’s rigid Yondr pouch policy, aims to eliminate distractions entirely, though it’s received more pushback from students.

As schools continue to experiment with phone policies, one thing is clear: there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Both students and administrators are still searching for a better, more balanced approach to managing phones in the classroom.