Aditya B., Teen Rep Membership/Engagement
Mar 29, 2026
What Do Gifted Students Actually Think About Florida's Phone Ban?
Florida's House Bill 1105 banned phones for K-8 students and restricted usage during class for high schoolers, but now that the school year is almost over, how did it actually play out? Rising Tide youth contributor Aditya surveyed our own Youth Mensans to find out. The results might surprise you.
Now that we are nearing the end of the school year, the team wanted to hear from YOU on the effects of this year's phone bans in schools.
For the Florida 2026 School Year(SY26), the State of Florida passed House Bill 1105. This bill banned phones for all students K-8 Grade and restricted phone usage to only outside of instructional time for high schoolers, with exceptions for emergency/medical purposes.
As the school year begins to wind down, the team and I wanted to learn how our Youth Mensans viewed the bill after experiencing the effects of the bill for almost a full school year. We surveyed The Rising Tide’s Youth Mensans. Here are the results:
Effects on Academic Performance
Based on our survey, a majority of our Youth Mensans believe that this bill has not affected their academic performance. However, 33.3% of them stated that they saw positive results from the implementation of this new law, citing large improvements in students’ focus, with some seeing increases in testing scores, higher grades, and more enjoyable classes.
Effects on Personal Wellbeing
Moving onto participants’ personal growth, there was a 50% split on whether this bill neutrally or positively affected students. The one-half of participants that said the bill positively affected them said that they mainly experienced improvements in their social connections, mental health, and mental focus. They also saw decreased stress & anxiety and safer school environments.
Summary
To conclude, House Bill 1105’s attempt to increase students’ academic abilities and their mental health has shown some signs of positive improvement; however, this Florida law has a ways to go before it can be seen as a resounding success. Specifically, this bill needs to target not just the blanket issue of phones in school by placing phone restrictions on them: Our Florida government needs to evaluate what is truly holding many gifted and non-gifted students from reaching their full potential in their personal, and academic, lives.
About the Author:
Aditya is a high school student and our Youth Team’s Cabin Crew. He loves reading, acting, and playing guitar. If he doesn’t have his head stuffed in a book, he is probably doing schoolwork or competing in a speech and debate tournament. See Aditya’s Volunteer Spotlight HERE!