Students at a California high school during class are storing their phones in special pouches designed to help limit digital distractions. Teachers say the method, implemented this year, limits their policing of classroom phone use.

Digital tools that students use for learning also can provide some of their biggest distractions. In this commentary, author Ana Homayoun shares how to help students manage these digital distractions by supporting their intrinsic motivation to make better decisions -- online and in the real world.

What statement best describes your attitude about cellphones in schools?

Research supports the benefits of learning to be bored versus spending time looking at a screen, according to this blog post.

If smartphones are harming our ability to focus, how should teachers change their methods to give children the skills they need?

Schools that allow students to access cellphones have lower rates of cyberbullying than those that ban the devices, according to data from the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. Overall, however, data show an uptick in incidents of cyberbullying in schools.

Mobiltelefoners varande i klassrummet är en fråga med ett högt allmänintresse och som med jämna mellanrum lyfts i debatter. Torbjörn Otts intresse i frågan väcktes redan 2007 när han precis hade börjat som lärare.

Smartphones are distracting students in the classroom and should be banned in primary schools, asserts Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish education expert and incoming professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. He suggests that leaders at individual schools be given the authority to make the best decisions for their schools about smartphone access.

While some Utah educators have resorted to using devices to curtail distractions and prevent cheating, others see benefits to taking a more nuanced approach.

Skolportens lärarpanel har utsett Torbjörn Otts avhandling Mobile phones in school: From disturbing objects to infrastructure for learning till Skolportens favorit.

Nu visar forskning att mobiler inte skapar oro. I ett svensk-finskt forskningsprojekt har forskarna filmat elever under tre års tid.

Det är i undervisningens ”mellanrum” som elever använder sina smarta telefoner. Det visar ett svensk-finskt forskningsprojekt om det uppkopplade klassrummet. Forskarna har filmat elever och deras mobiltelefoner på plats i klassrummet.