{"id":3190,"date":"2026-09-21T19:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/?p=3190"},"modified":"2026-09-21T19:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:51:20","slug":"cell-phones-out-of-the-classroom-just-a-first-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/cell-phones-out-of-the-classroom-just-a-first-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Cell Phones Out of the Classroom: Just a First Step"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Juan Larrosa, September 21, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At today\u2019s morning press conference, it was announced that the Ministry of Public Education and the National Council of Educational Authorities (CONAEDU) reached an agreement to restrict the use of cell phones or smartphones in primary and secondary school classrooms. This restriction includes the time students spend in the classroom as well as recess periods. The measure, which will take effect this year, has yet to be published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, and until then we will not know its specific characteristics.<\/p>\n<p>At first glance, I think this is a good decision by the Federal Government. As I have written in previous commentaries, I believe there is sufficient evidence showing that the use of screens in classrooms generates significant distraction. These technologies are designed to capture their users\u2019 attention. This makes it very difficult for students to remain present and focused on what is happening in the classroom, and it also distances them from social and collective interaction during recess, as many students prefer their screens to playing with their peers.<\/p>\n<p>The negative effects of screens have increased in recent years with the emergence of artificial intelligence. This technology makes it very easy to ask an AI agent to solve a math problem, read a text, summarize content, or write an essay. Although more research still needs to be done, there are clear indications in the recent PISA assessment that students in many parts of the world, not only in Mexico, are developing fewer mathematical, analytical, and critical-thinking skills. This decline coincides with the rise of artificial intelligence. The question of causality will need to be examined further.<\/p>\n<p>So, credit is due to the Federal Government for this decision. However, pending the publication of the full text in the Official Gazette of the Federation, I believe the measure falls short. This measure, which is a first step, should be accompanied by a broad public policy on technology and education; otherwise, we will simply be shifting responsibility for our country\u2019s educational problems onto technology.<\/p>\n<p>At the technological level, we should consider the possibility of providing universal public access to the epistemic and communication technologies that operate through screens. Banning cell phones from classrooms does not mean cutting people off from public life altogether. The government must ensure that Mexicans have access to high-quality internet and sufficient devices to remain connected to contemporary life, without being at the mercy of private companies, as happened in the past with broadcasting and telecommunications.<\/p>\n<p>With that infrastructure for universal access in place, we would then need to build a literacy policy for our communication environment. Through different classroom strategies, students should be taught how to use cell phones and, more broadly, how to live in today\u2019s complex communication and technological environment. Sooner or later, students will use phones and other technologies that will continue to develop. For that reason, prohibition alone is not enough.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the issue is part of the public conversation, citizens should contact their legislators and ask that this first step become a state policy capable of providing Mexican children with a better education system.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This text was originally broadcast on NTR Radio News on September 21, 2026, hosted by journalist Sonia Serrano.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\">By Juan Larrosa, September 21, 2026 At today\u2019s morning press conference, it was announced that the Ministry of Public Education and the National Council of Educational Authorities (CONAEDU) reached an agreement to restrict the use of cell phones or smartphones in primary and secondary school classrooms. This restriction includes the time students spend in the classroom as well as recess&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/cell-phones-out-of-the-classroom-just-a-first-step\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[579],"tags":[418,544,543,582,423,587,583,584,549,542,581,580,180,497,588,585,545,586],"class_list":["post-3190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication-literacy","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-attention","tag-cell-phones-in-the-classroom","tag-children","tag-communication","tag-conaedu","tag-digital-access","tag-digital-divide","tag-digital-literacy","tag-education","tag-education-policy","tag-educational-technology","tag-mexico-en","tag-ntr-radio","tag-pisa","tag-public-policy","tag-screens","tag-sep","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3147,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/attention-screens-and-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":0},"title":"Attention, Screens, and Education","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"24 August, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Juan Larrosa, August 24, 2026 Fifteen days ago, I wrote about how anachronistic the national debate around audience rights seems to me and about how, in addition, this discussion reflects a moment of intense political polarization that prevents us from thinking clearly about which public problems we are trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"artificial intelligence\"","block_context":{"text":"artificial intelligence","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":821,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/elecciones-en-estados-unidos-comunicacion-politica-y-comunidades-latinas\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":1},"title":"2016 US Presidential Elections &#038; Latino Communities","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"21 November, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Darren Lilleker, Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen y Anastasia Veneti edited a book about the 2016 United States Presidential Elections, with a particular emphasis on media and political communication. In this book, I published the article\u00a0\"A Bilingual Campaign: Clinton\u2019s Latino Political Communication.\" Here you can download the entire book, and here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Doctoral Dissertation Project&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Doctoral Dissertation Project","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/doctoral-dissertation-project-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"US Elections","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":817,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/elecciones-en-estados-unidos-comunicacion-politica-y-comunidades-latinas\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":2},"title":"Elecciones en Estados Unidos, comunicaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica y comunidades latinas","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"21 November, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Unas semanas antes de que concluyeran las campa\u00f1as electorales en Estados Unidos, Darren Lilleker, Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen y Anastasia Veneti, acad\u00e9micos expertos en comunicaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica, abrieron una convocatoria mundial para crear un libro en el que investigadores de todo el mundo pudieran publicar sus primeras impresiones sobre este proceso\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comunicaci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comunicaci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/category\/comunicacion-politica\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"US Election Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign. Early reflections from leading academics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Screen-Shot-2016-11-20-at-5.18.09-PM.png?fit=849%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":976,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/una-agenda-para-los-observatorios-de-medios-en-mexico\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":3},"title":"A Research-Agenda for Media Observatories in Mexico","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"30 April, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This article was published in Revista Z\u00f3calo (May, 2017). If you want to read the article, click here. \u00a0 In historical terms, media observatories were born in the late 1990s in Brazil and at the beginning of the following decade, in 2002, at the World Social Forum. However, the ideas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Media Observatories&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Media Observatories","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/media-observatories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revista-Z%C3%B3calo-Mayo-2016.png?fit=965%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revista-Z%C3%B3calo-Mayo-2016.png?fit=965%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revista-Z%C3%B3calo-Mayo-2016.png?fit=965%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Revista-Z%C3%B3calo-Mayo-2016.png?fit=965%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1121,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/comunicacion-y-el-cuerpo-politico\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":4},"title":"Communication &#038; the Body Politic","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"25 January, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Communication and the Body Politic: Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 Presidential Campaign in Philadelphia\u2019s Latino Community This dissertation contains a qualitative case study of how Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and her staff, created communication systems to contact Latinos during the 2016 presidential campaign and how these systems operated in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Doctoral Dissertation Project&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Doctoral Dissertation Project","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/category\/doctoral-dissertation-project-en\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1130,"url":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/comunicacion-y-el-cuerpo-politico\/","url_meta":{"origin":3190,"position":5},"title":"Communication &#038; the Body Politic","author":"Juan S. Larrosa-Fuentes","date":"25 January, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Communication and the Body Politic: Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 Presidential Campaign in Philadelphia\u2019s Latino Community This dissertation contains a qualitative case study of how Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and her staff, created communication systems to contact Latinos during the 2016 presidential campaign and how these systems operated in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comunicaci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comunicaci\u00f3n Pol\u00edtica","link":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/category\/comunicacion-politica\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Larrosa.Dissertation-Defense.03.jpg?fit=1067%2C600&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsnc-Ps","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3191,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions\/3191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juan-larrosa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}