Ban Cell Phones in Schools: Give Students’ Brains a Chance to Develop

By Frosty Wooldridge

Throughout much of American history, alcohol addiction caused broken marriages, divorces, bar fights, murders, and automobile accidents that have killed tens of thousands of fathers, mothers and children. Millions suffer from alcohol addiction. 

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), excessive alcohol use and related health conditions lead to approximately 178,000 deaths annually in the United States.  Additionally, 100,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed from alcohol consumption, and 20,000 deaths annually in the United States.

Key Breakdown of Alcohol-Related Deaths

Daily Impact: Roughly 488 people die every day in America from alcohol-related causes. 
By Gender: About 119,600 deaths occur among men, and 58,700 deaths occur among women annually. 

Main Causes: Leading causes include chronic conditions like alcohol-associated liver disease (cirrhosis), heart disease, stroke, various cancers, as well as acute events like poisonings, car crashes, and falls. 

Recent Trends: Annual fatalities surged by about 29% compared to previous years, driven by increased consumption patterns and higher rates of binge drinking.

How many alcoholics in America?

“More than 29 million people aged 12 and older in the United States suffer from an alcohol use disorder (AUD), which is the medical term for alcoholism. This includes roughly 16.7 million males and 11.2 million females, plus over 775,000 adolescents aged 12 to 17.”

No matter how many stories you read about movie stars with their fame and fortune, thousands of lives have been destroyed by alcohol.  The latest death, Hayden Pannetiere, aged 36, beautiful, rich—but she filled herself up with alcohol and drugs.

Of course, legal and illegal drugs have killed hundreds of thousands of kids across America. 

“More than 1.25 million Americans have died from drug overdoses since 1999, with over 70,000 dying in the most recent 12-month reporting period tracked by the CDC. Illicit synthetic opioids like fentanyl drive the majority of these fatalities, though recent federal data shows annual totals have declined for three consecutive years.”

BUT IN 2021, THERE’S A NEW “DRUG” IN TOWN: CELL PHONES

In 2026, there’s a new addiction in America.  It’s on every street corner. It’s in every gym workout area. It’s in church. It’s in every classroom of every school. It’s out in the middle of the wilderness. It’s in the hands of little children ages 8, 9, 10, 11 and beyond. It’s behind nearly every steering wheel of every car on our nation’s highways. Ubiquitous is not a big enough word for it.

What is America’s newest addiction? Answer:  Cell phones.

The average teenager works his or her cell phone 7 hours 22 minutes daily.  It eats up their time, their lives, their emotions, and their mental energy. It devours their ability to relate to other human beings.  The average teen “texts” 100 times a day on average.  It devours kids’ lives with pornography, board games, and the “nothingness” of living inside a computer.

Even more catastrophic is the number of accidents and deaths from cell phone users operating a car. 

“Annually, cell phone use and texting while driving account for approximately 1.6 million crashes and over 3,000 fatalities in the United States, according to the National Safety Council.” 

That makes for a deadly addiction that’s killing a lot of people!

Even Chiropractors dubbed the new addiction as to its harm to the human body.  It’s called, “Text Neck.”  If you watch everyone on their cell phone, they are bent over looking down on the screen for 7 hours 22 minutes per day.  That bending over with their neck for such long periods of time is straightening out their “C Curve” in their necks. That’s the seven cervical vertebrae in your neck.  If you look at older people, you notice their necks are straight out and tilted forward. That’s because they haven’t exercised their necks as they age.  Cell phone addiction will create an entirely new category of physical demise as individuals continue that unhealthy “Text Neck” practice.

“Cell phones shape American life by enabling instant communication and access to information. However, excessive use contributes to widespread mental health strains, sleep disruption, and safety risks across the country.”

Mental Health and Social Well-Being

Rising anxiety and depression: Heavy use links to higher rates of loneliness and low self-esteem.

Addiction and distraction: Constant notifications reduce attention spans in schools and workplaces.

Youth vulnerability: Early smartphone access correlates with emotional distress and poor sleep in children. Additionally, inactive children become obese adults.

What can parents do to help their children to become un-addicted to cell phones? 

You might use information from the book: Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay.  
Limit cell phone use to one hour daily.  Give them the choice of one hour or no hours.
Attend school board meetings and demand that cell phones not be allowed in school classrooms. 

You may possess more ideas on your own.

Have your children participate in sports, hobbies, painting groups, jewelry making, pottery, sewing clubs, Meet-Ups for bicycling, skiing, rowing, fishing, and dozens of ways to express yourself as a human being.

One way or the other, we as a civilization, need to get a handle on cell phone usage in America.  If we don’t, the consequences will expand and explode with each new year that we don’t take action—-for our children, and ultimately for ourselves.

###