ATLANTA – Children and adolescents won’t be able to use personal cellphones in public schools starting next fall after the General Assembly overwhelmingly supported banning the devices in elementary and middle schools.

House Bill 340 passed the Georgia Senate Tuesday 54-2 after the state House of Representatives passed it with strong bipartisan support in early March.

Gov. Brian Kemp will soon decide whether to sign the measure. So kids and parents will need to mentally prepare for the technology that tethers them to each other be severed during the school day.

The “Distraction-Free Education Act” requires schools to develop policies that allow parents to reach their kids, for instance, by calling the principal’s office, and it provides exemptions for students with disabilities or medical conditions that require them to use a cellphone for learning or for health reasons, such as checking their glucose level.

But  starting in July 2026 all other kids would have to hand over or lock up their device from the first bell of the school day until the final ring. The ban applies even during emergencies, when experts testified that cellphones pose a dangerous distraction, even if parents wish they could still contact their children during, say, a mass shooting.

The crackdown comes amid growing global concerns about the effect of technology and social media on children.

Documentaries such as “The Social Dilemma” have explored how social media companies target children and their attention. Books such as “Stolen Focus” by British journalist Johann Hari have described the impact of the resulting distraction on their ability to function. The new Netflix drama “Adolescence,” about a boy accused of killing a girl, prompted British Prime Minister Keri Starmer to say he was concerned about social media spreading misogyny to young males.

Last year, Australia banned social media for those under 16. Last fall, France initiated a trial ban on cellphones in schools for students ages 11-15, with a potential expansion nationwide. Denmark is talking about banning them in schools, too.

Absent action from Congress, states in America have been tackling the issue on their own, with at least a half dozen already enacting bans like the one Georgia’s legislature has passed.

They’re reporting fewer disruptions and more interaction among students.

“The evidence is clear” that cellphones are a “major” distraction in classrooms, Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, the chair of the Senate Republican Caucus, said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

“This bill isn’t just about academics,” he said. “It’s about student well-being.”

Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the majority whip, called cellphones a “serious cancer” in classrooms.

Some Democrats said Republicans are using the phone issue to distract from the concerns about school shootings. But they unanimously supported HB 340 in the Senate, with the only “no” votes coming from two Republicans.

Sen. Sally Harrell, D-Atlanta, said she and her husband struggled to place rules around phone use in their own home when their kids got them a decade ago. But schools had them doing homework on their phones, which made it difficult to enforce limits. She said she was suspicious when she read that Silicon Valley executives wouldn’t let their own kids use such devices.

“So they knew that what they were putting into kids’ hands was not good for them,” she said.

Many suggested during weeks of hearings on the bill that the cellphone ban should also include high school students.

Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, the chief sponsor of HB 340, said after Tuesday’s vote that the ban could be extended to those schools in coming years.

“Absolutely, based on the feedback that I have gotten, we do have a problem in (grades) 9 through 12, and it’s the nuance of how do we address that,” he said. “But I do imagine that in a future session we’re going to be back to think deeply about what we do in high school.”