Smartphones appear to be contributing to the scourge of teen violence in New Mexico.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman has found teenagers bought and sold guns on apps designed to evade detection. 

Police recently arrested a teenager accused of an alleged armed robbery attempt that turned deadly. In 2023, that teen was found guilty of aggravated assault for filming a beating published on social media.

State Sen. Crystal Brantley introduced a bill to incentivize New Mexico school districts to ban phones in the classroom. 

Geron Spray, a Capitol High School teacher, is outspoken about phones in the classroom. Spray even invited the Santa Fe Public Schools board to be a substitute teacher for a month. 

“Only then will you begin to understand the cancer that is cellphones. I use the word cancer because I can’t think of a word that better characterizes how insidious and destructive these devices are,” Spray said.

Educators said, aside from in-class distractions, they’re concerned about students filming fights and taking inappropriate pictures in bathroom stalls.

Eight states have implemented cellphone restriction policies – or outright banned them. 

Evidence is mounting that smartphones are causing serious harm. The Nation’s Report Card shows math and reading scores started slipping nationwide long before the pandemic – in 2013. A Pew Research study found 2013 was the first time most Americans owned a smartphone.  

Another Pew Research study found there are racial and gender disparities when it comes to young people and social media use. Girls are more likely to use apps like Snapchat and Instagram. From 2011 to 2021, the CDC found a dramatic increase in girls feeling persistently sad or hopeless.

Hispanic teenagers are also more likely to be on social media and one-in-three say they’re on TikTok constantly. 

Some schools are not waiting for legislative action. 

“They know what to expect. They know what we expect from them,” said Ken Merhege, the principal at John Adams Middle School. “When we started [banning cellphones] in the fall of [20]21, the first full year back, we had a policy that [cellphones] need to be in your backpacks from the first bell to the last bell.” 

Since then, Merhege and other school leaders say they have seen a dramatic improvement in student behavior. School leaders add limiting cellphone use is part of what has helped. 

“If they can’t trust us, if they don’t respect us, they’re not going to learn from us,” Merhege said. 

Menaul School, which hosts a great number of international students, looks at studies around the world for guidance. Now, they don’t allow cellphones to be visible during school hours. 

However, school leadership questions whether Sen. Brantley’s bill would be effective. 

“I really don’t expect great things are going to come from that bill as it’s written,” said Chris Ferrara, the assistant head of Menaul School. “You need to have personnel. Personnel implement policies, not equipment.” 

Brantley’s bill is currently sitting in the Senate Finance Committee. 

Regardless of what happens to the bill, Spray says school districts should act anyways.

“Parents won’t deal with the problem. In fact, parents are a big part of the problem,” Spray said. “This [Santa Fe Public Schools] district has done nothing to deal with the problem, relegating teachers to the role of cell phone cops.”