When we stood up this week in support of legislation to require phone-free schools in North Dakota, we approached it as giving something back to students: the freedom to learn and grow with far less distraction and stress.

As parents of a combined six children who have attended 15 different schools in several districts, we’ve had a front-row seat to the impacts of smartphones and social media use in schools on mental health and academic performance.

We’ve seen how inconsistent phone policies from school to school and classroom to classroom can create confusion and frustration for students, parents and teachers alike.

A growing body of research led by organizations such as Phone-Free Schools and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” points to phone and social media addiction as one of the most insidious mental health issues of our time.

Consider: In the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, over 30% of North Dakota high school students reported that their mental health was “not good” — including stress, anxiety and depression — most of the time or always during the 30 days before the survey.

Over 15% reported being electronically bullied, and 77.2% — over 3 in 4 students — reported three or more hours of screen time per day, not counting the time spent doing schoolwork on electronic devices.

Every state is grappling with this issue. Sixteen states have enacted some level of phone-free school policies, and more than two dozen states have policies under consideration. Last month, Arkansas passed a “Bell to Bell, No Cell Act” requiring public schools to enact policies banning the use of cell phones during the school day. Virginia is moving in a similar direction via executive order.

North Dakota can also lead with a bell-to-bell policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when they arrive at school and pick them up when they leave.

Doing this halfway won’t do enough.

As Haidt explains, banning phones in class but allowing them during breaks between classes, recess and lunch will still interfere with attention, learning, relationships and belonging. Students can’t focus on class when the temptation and dopamine release of their smartphone is within reach. Seven hours free from the distraction of their phones will produce better academic outcomes.

How schools choose to collect and store phones during the school day will vary. We are proposing $1.5 million to cover expenses. We want to set the baseline and give schools the tools they need to deliver learning with less distraction. This legislation offers a common starting point, not a one-size-fits-all solution.

This issue transcends red-versus-blue politics. It’s about protecting student well-being and giving our students the best chance to reach their full potential.

Teachers will benefit by being able to focus more time on instruction, not distraction.

Most importantly, our students will thrive with the social and lifelong learning skills necessary to compete in an ever-changing world market.

Some North Dakota schools already have bell-to-bell phone-free policies in place, showing promising results. Studies elsewhere have found improved academic performance, mental health and a reduction in bullying.

It’s time. Parents have had enough of the distraction and stress, and so have many students, even if they’re too proud to admit it. We can work through the emergency contact concerns and other issues, leaning on our experience from the days before smartphones were ubiquitous in schools. Our kids are worth it.

Talk to your family members, neighbors and legislators. Let them know you support phone-free schools — for the health, education and future success of our children.

Kelly Armstrong, 34th governor of North Dakota. Michelle Strinden, former school counselor, 40th lieutenant governor of North Dakota