By Pierce Labrie
Pierce is a high school student member of ConnectSafely’s Youth Advisory Council.
Each year, as phone usage among teens increases, there is always talk about whether phones should be allowed in schools. However, recently, there have been new state laws and proposed laws that would ban cell phones in schools. The laws banning cell phones will not achieve the desired effect of limiting distractions because they will encourage students to be more furtive and undermine the purpose of high school—preparing teenagers for the future.
One reason the laws will not achieve the desired effect is that banning cell phones will create more secretive ways of using a phone. For example, one of my coworkers is a teacher, and he is supposed to collect phones when he sees them out. However, he has noted that since his school implemented this policy, a lot of his students have started bringing two phones to school and have been giving him an old phone or a fake phone. This highlights the issue with trying to ban something as common as phones: students will find workarounds and will still use their phones. If cell phones were allowed in classrooms, a majority of students would be less sneaky, and teachers would be able to see who is using their phones and who is paying attention. When students become sneaky and try to hide their phone use, the teacher feels like they must police all the students, which takes valuable time away from the class. Also, if a law were implemented, it would still be very teacher-dependent as some teachers do not want to take time out of their lessons to stop students from using their phones. The law would be close to impossible to uniformly enforce across all schools and even across all teachers. This also puts the teachers in a poor position because the ones who do follow the law and collect phones will be disliked more by students compared to the teachers who do not care about collecting phones and just want to teach their lesson. Thus, one reason the law will not achieve its desired effect is that it will encourage students to find more workarounds, and enforcement is very teacher-dependent.
Another reason the laws will not achieve their desired effects is because they undermine a major purpose of high school. High school is a place where teenagers are meant to be prepared for the real world, and it is supposed to help them learn the skills needed to succeed in the workforce. However, in the workforce, no one will likely be policing adults and banning their cell phones. Therefore, students need to learn how to use their cell phones and not be overly distracted by them because that is how it will be in the future. Thus, by banning cell phones, students are not learning how not to be distracted by them, and they will be less prepared for the real world because they have not developed the necessary skills. If high schoolers are being policed about everything they do, how are they being prepared for the future with fewer restrictions?
Although the laws banning cell phones sound like a good idea in theory, in actuality, the laws will not limit distractions because students will still find ways to use a phone, and not all teachers will enforce it uniformly. Also, the law will undermine the purpose of high school, which is preparing students for the future, because students will not learn how to live with their cell phones and not be distracted by them. I believe that cell phones should be allowed in school because there are emergencies in school where a cell phone may be needed to text or call a parent or guardian. Also, if a student is distracted by their phone, then the burden is on the student, and they will not do well on the next homework or assessment and will learn how not to be distracted by their phone the hard way, helping prepare them for the future.
Opinions expressed by members of ConnectSafely’s Youth Advisory Council do not necessarily reflect those of the council as a whole or ConnectSafely.