Her 15-year-old son said he likes having a cell phone at school but is OK with not using it during class. His mother agrees, saying, "There needs to be text-free time."

In the Ely home, the devices are off during dinner and family activities. The phones are confiscated at 11 p.m. daily because the kids were getting calls from friends at 1 a.m.

Teens can use technology as a weapon. But anti-bullying expert Jodee Blanco, author of the New York Times best-seller "Please Stop Laughing at Me," says she doesn't believe banning cell phones at school will deter bullying.

"If you deny the kids cell phones, they will just find some other way to torment each other," Blanco told the Deseret News. She was in Salt Lake City to speak to students at St. Vincent de Paul School.

"You've got to inspire the kids from the inside out," she said, "not take away their tools."

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E-mail: astewart@desnews.com