To ban or not to ban: Differences in mobile phone policies at elementary, middle, and high schools

•We survey elemental, middle, and high school teachers.•We examine differences in mobile phone use policies across the three school levels.•Five school-level differences exist in mobile phone use and mobile phone policies.•No school-level differences in limited effects of mobile phone policies.

The present study was to examine differences in mobile phone policies at elementary, middle and high schools. We surveyed 245 elementary, middle and high schools teachers in Shenzhen of China, using a specially designed 18-item questionnaire. Teachers’ responses indicate that, across elementary, middle and high schools, significant differences exist in (1) students’ percentages of using mobile phones among students, (2) students’ dependence of mobile phones, (3) the number of schools banning students’ mobile phone use, (4) oral and written forms used by schools to ban students’ mobile phone use, and (5) policy reinforcement strategies used by schools. However, no school-level differences was found in (1) students’ fondness of using mobile phones, (2) teachers’ assessment of low-level effectiveness of mobile phone policies, and (3) teachers’ policy improvement recommendations. Significance and implications of the findings are discussed.