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Enter Ottumwa High School at lunchtime this school year. Students are talking, laughing, eating and braiding hair.They are not checking phones.Ottumwa's 5,000-student district started school Aug. 23 with a new cellphone policy.They aren’t allowed and are to be kept in lockers.It’s one of the strictest phone policies in central Iowa. Other districts, such as Ankeny and Des Moines' Hoover High School, have restrictions this year, too. A half-dozen more are considering policies.“What we found is kids could be sitting at a table around their friends, but then they would be texting other people, and you aren't really, truly there. And then you worry about if you don't get a text back right away from your other friends,” said Superintendent Mike McGrory.Before August, a group, including students, met to consider and study banning cell phones. The three main reasons for banning them are learning, mental health, and bullying. The Pew Research Center in 2023 reported 46% of teens surveyed said they were online “almost constantly.” That was up from 24% in Pew’s 2015 report. Other research shows how damaging social media has been for teen girls in particular.Students, so far, are – mostly – on board with the new rules, McGrory said.“That was kind of like my anchor, but it has helped me find new ways to cope,” said Dawna Rupe, a sophomore at Ottumwa High School. She reads or writes.At Ottumwa's alternative studies Gateway High School, senior Madison Shoop says she's more focused than last year.“I think my attention has kind of skyrocketed if that's the word. I was more focused on, like, my phone, and, oh, my gosh, is that going to go off?” she said.Students at Gateway put their phones in a transparent phone cabinet that can be locked. The kid on a wristband goes with them, Shoop said. She said the wristband is helpful with anxious feelings.“We're an alternative school, so we have a lot of kids with anxiety,” said Gateway Principal Aaron Ruff. “I think that message is coming through a little bit, that, you know, this is for me to be healthy.”Several students said they have changed habits at home, too."I've been hanging out with my family, actually. I'm usually just locked up in my room,” said Paizlee Thomason, a Gateway freshman.The policy is also for teachers and staff. They say everyone is finding different ways to communicate. For instance, staff use radios instead. Parents can call the school to reach their kids.The change in one week of school has been surprising, teachers and staff said.“You have to get out of that mindset sometimes. You know, you don't have that 24/7 access,” McGrory said. “It's a work in progress. Yes, I've looked at flip phones.”McGrory said academics will be one benchmark they will be watching. For the first days of school, the early benchmark has been seeing increased student interaction at lunch.“What we found is kids could be sitting at a table around their friends, but then they would be texting other people, and you aren't really, truly there,” McGrory said. “And then you worry about if you don't get a text back right away from your other friends.”Shoop said she is getting her schoolwork done faster and also being with her family more. Hers had become a habit hard to break.“I just think I was so addicted to it that it was hard for me to look away personally, for me to look away like I would just be scrolling and scrolling and scrolling scrolling. At points in time when my mom talked to me, like, I couldn't hear because I had my headphones in, I was scrolling through my phone, and I wasn't paying attention,” she said.For districts looking at cellphone bans, the advice is clear:“Do it. Do it. It's not as bad as you think,” Ruff said. “I think parents are well aware of what cell phones are doing to their kids. They're seeing it at home. I think parents are behind this.”