On January 8th, 2026, Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill restricting cell phone use in school, set to go into effect throughout all of New Jersey in September 2026. Murphy visited Ramsey High School for the passage of the bill – the district was one of the first to implement no-phone policies in New Jersey. The bill was one of Murphy’s last to pass before he left office on January 20th.

The bill is intended to prevent “non-academic use of internet-enabled devices” during the school day. While the language of the bill (that is, of course, made known to the general public) is a bit vague, lawmakers and administrators of the New Jersey School Boards Association assert that exceptions to the restrictions can be made. The law itself mandates that school districts throughout NJ adopt “strict policies” on cell phone usage. What that may entail for Ramapo Indian Hills is still unknown; however, common policies include cell phone pockets, keeping phones in lockers, or purchasing physical devices to lock away phones until the conclusion of the school day. These measures would be funded by each individual school district, so the measure of the restrictions will heavily depend on the school itself.

Students’ opinions on the passage of the law are mixed: many current Juniors feel “cheated” out of their technological freedom in their last year of high school. Junior, 

Lawmakers and educators throughout the state also assure parents and students that the new policy will pose no safety issues. In fact, some studies show that students having access to their phones during emergencies only worsens the issue.

However inconvenient and annoying it may be, we lived without phones before – and we can certainly do it again.