Governor Stein Signs Bill Restricting Cellphones, Requiring Social Media Literacy Lessons In NC Schools
By Emily Walkenhorst and Destinee Patterson, WRAL News
North Carolina school boards will have to restrict the use of cellphones and other wireless communication devices in public schools and begin teaching social media literacy lessons under a new state law.
House Bill 959, signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Josh Stein, requires school boards to regulate students’ wireless communication devices — including cellphones, tablets, laptops, pagers, two-way radios and gaming devices. Some school boards will have to alter cellphone policies they’ve already passed that are often stricter than what the new law requires.
The law comes as states across the country are attempting to crack down on cellphone use in schools. A WRAL News report in June found that policies by themselves don’t solve the problem and that students and teachers said they have to be enforced in the right way to actually work.
School boards need to have a policy by Jan. 1 that, at a minimum, requires the devices to be turned off during instructional time. Boards must also make exemptions for when a teacher authorizes their use for instruction or for an emergency and when a student’s disability plan or health condition requires device access. Boards must establish consequences for violating the policy.
Some school board policies don’t have exceptions for student health concerns or disability plans. Johnston County Schools’ policy, for instance, only allows teachers to make calls during emergencies. Others, such as Wake County’s policy, don’t list required consequences for violating the policy, though some individual schools have them. Wake County allows cellphones to be confiscated or students to be punished as needed under the student code of conduct, but the policy doesn’t say that a violation of it will yield a particular punishment.
Social media literacy
House Bill 959 also requires schools to teach students social media literacy, and it requires schools to implement certain internet safety and security measures if they haven’t already. These requirements start in 2026.
Social media literacy lessons during the 2026-27 school year will focus on the consequences of social media use, teaching about social media addiction, misinformation and manipulation. Schools are expected to teach students about how to protect themselves, identify cyberbullying and human trafficking, and report suspicious behavior.
Dean Duncan, a board member for the NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking, said the legislation is a start.
“It won’t hurt,” he said. “There’s still going to be individuals out there who are going to be trying to reach people through social media, and there’s still going to be young people who are going to get around whatever law is actually out there.”
Pam Strickland, the founder of NC Stop Human Trafficking, said she feels like lawmakers are finally starting to listen.
“It’s certainly a really good idea to address the issue of social media safety in schools and hope that kids will talk about it there,” she told WRAL.
Strickland said it’s largely up to parents to instill safe social media practices into their children.
“It’s really important for us, as parents and other caregivers, to realize that from the very first moment that we allow a child use of any device that has internet capability, that we need to set rules around that and to keep the lines of communication open.”
Students are expected to also learn “interpersonal skills or character education” that would help them further protect themselves and reduce risky or harmful behavior.
“These are foundational skills that set the stage for building critical thinking skills,” said Renee Hobbs.
Hobbs founded the Media Education Lab, an initiative to improve media literacy. She’s also a professor of communication studies at the University of Rhode Island.
The state law requires the social media literacy lessons to be taught every year for elementary and middle schoolers and twice a year for high schoolers.
“Like everything, media literacy is a muscle….For media literacy to become internalized, it’s not something that happens one lesson on one Friday. It happens through short, frequent repetitions where we get to practice the art of critical thinking,” she said.
The law does not specify how educators should teach the material or how staff will get proper training.
“It’s going to be important for teachers to get training and support as they practice these skills. One thing we’ve learned is that, more important than telling children what to do is, creating a place of dialogue and discussion where students themselves can reason through the various digital dilemmas that are part of everyday life.”
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction told WRAL News its team is working to craft guidance for districts.