Should Cell Phones be Allowed at School?
By Aniyah McLemore,
2nd Place Essay Winner
Growing up in the 21st century technology is everywhere. My home is controlled simply by pressing a button on my cell phone. With that being said, there is no aspect of my life that is not technology based. I think phones should not be allowed in schools because they are used in many unhealthy ways. Students don’t need phones during school because they can be used to bully others, disrupt class, and affect your learning abilities.
Imagine being in agony over picking out clothes for school. Students are in fear of it being shared among their schoolmates. According to the Cyberbullying and Cell Phone Policy in U.S. Primary and Secondary Schools, researchers say, “The percentage of schools with principals reporting occasional cyberbullying increased from 45% in 2010 to 54% in 2016.” In other words, kids in school are being bullied online about anything. Being bullied online means there is no escape. Not even in the comfort of your own home. It is everywhere!
Having phones during class time can disrupt the whole class. Sherri Gordon writes in her article, How Smartphones Create Distractions in the Classroom, that “The students' attention is divided between two tasks—what the teacher is trying to teach and what the student is trying to do on the digital device. The result is that fewer items regarding those two tasks will be able to be recalled or retained.” This means something as simple as a buzz may throw off everyones focus. If you are in class and begin to focus on your phone or a notification, you are no longer paying attention to what the teacher is teaching. Now you may have lost everything they were previously talking about. Because of this, your grades can go down and eventually affect your learning ability.
This topic about whether phones should be allowed in school sparked my interest and made me reach out to several different people. I reached out to peers, 911 dispatchers, teachers, and parents. Most of them said we should be allowed to have our phones for any kind of emergency purpose. Although I agree, I believe there are other effective ways to get in contact with a parent. When speaking with a middle school teacher on the topic of phones in school she gave me some thought provoking words. First, students are likely to know very little about the emergency situation so inaccurate information is quickly distributed and can become very dangerous and or unnecessary.
In conclusion, I feel phones should not be allowed in school because they are negatively affecting students' learning. They can easily put anyone in danger at school emotionally to the point of even self harm. After speaking with a teacher at my own school she states that she has seen phones be used as distractions, to record fights, airdrop explicit content, bully others, and phones even get stolen. We can all agree there is a time and place for everything and I believe school is not a place for cell phones.