It’s too much to expect students to resist the gravitational pull of devices designed to addict them.

Follow this authorKate Cohen's opinions

So it is with some reluctance that I say: Kids these days are on their cellphones too much. A recent Gallup poll shows teens spend an average of nearly five hours a day just on social media — not including games and texts. A report by Common Sense Media finds teens check their phones an average of more than 100 times a day.

All that screen time is bad for adolescent mental health. Cellphone use jeopardizes social interaction and weaponizes bullying. Cellphones are also distracting. Even when they’re not being used, they’re sitting at the ready in pockets and backpacks saying, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Look at me!” That makes it tough to concentrate on anything, let alone Applied Geometry. Indeed, research finds a correlation between cellphone use and lower grades and test scores.

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Schools — and now some states — increasingly try to contain the damage by restricting phones in class. That’s what Bethlehem tried first. But classroom distraction isn’t the only problem. According to Doemel, because of phones outside class, every in-school dispute was recorded and posted, every insult or provocation was shared, gathering strength as it pinged around the apps.

So he pushed for a total ban, and the school board voted unanimously in favor. Parents were concerned — that they wouldn’t be able to reach their children during the school day or that their children would be cut off in an emergency. But they can still call the office or even email. All the students have Chromebooks, and all the classrooms have phones that can dial 911.

There was also resistance from some teachers, who protested that students should be treated like adults. It’s a pretty common argument: We’re leaving students unprepared for life if we fail to teach them self-control and good judgment.

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But how can we possibly prepare students to battle technology that is designed to be addictive? Adults can’t resist them, either. Doemel compares it with “giving a kid a cigarette and saying, here, be responsible.” Even if students want to be responsible, they can’t.

The next day, I visited Guilderland, another high school in suburban Albany, the one where my sons went. Guilderland doesn’t ban phones, but Principal Mike Piscitelli told me the school bought storage pockets to hang on classroom doors. The teachers set the rules and the administration makes a point of backing them up. “Everybody’s a little afraid of being the bad guy.”

He meant teachers. But school districts are wary, too, even though........

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