To the editor:

Like teachers and staff, I urge the school board to ban cellphones from middle and high schools, as well as elementary schools. Having taught and studied the effects of all media platforms on pre-K-12 students for 20 years at KU, innumerable studies have proven the multiple harms of media on cognitive, socio-emotional and physical development. Social media, in particular, impairs mental health and ruins self-confidence as young people constantly compare themselves to others and live with Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, pressures of belonging. Keep students focused solely on reading and learning curricular subjects by removing their personal phones during school hours.

Jeanne Klein,

Lawrence