Playgrounds come alive again, grades improve following Brazil's phone ban

RIO DE JANEIRO — In Rio de Janeiro, schoolchildren are playing again "like in the old days", and their focus in class has improved after a school cellphone ban pioneered in the city that has now gone nationwide.

Students across the country of more than 200 million people are starting the school year with phones banned from classes and break time after a new law signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last month.

Brazil, which has more smartphones than people, joins a growing number of nations using such bans to pry devices from the hands of children hooked on social media.