I am totally fine with this strategy. My oldest just got his first phone, mostly so he could connect with his friends and contact my wife and I in an emergency. His school requires all students to put their phones in a container when they enter a class (they also have several charging ports available in each classroom, so students can charge their phones during class - a very considerate feature).
From what I can tell no kids or their parents have a problem with this. My wife and I certainly don’t. It helps instill sensible technology usage habits in our kid. And it gives him more independence from us. And in this case, kids can still use their phones during lunch and before/after school. But just not during classes. Not only is this a very reasonable requirement IMO, it’s an excellent way to get them to interact more.
Framing this requirement as “going back in time” is silly. Certainly in situations where kids are only banned from using their phones in class.
He was barely coherent before. Now that he’s old and demented he’s completely incoherent.