Suddenly losing something you’ve had for so long isn’t easy.
On March 12, 2024, the state of Indiana passed a law for high schools against phones. This law forces school districts around Indiana to implement rules that restrict phone use in school. The decision to pass the law was to help students focus during the school day and remove distractions during instructional time.
Senate Bill 185 specifically states, ‘’ … each school corporation and charter school to: (1) adopt and implement a wireless communication device policy that governs student use of a wireless communication device.”
Perry Township, along with many other schools in Indiana, decided to enforce a full phone ban with some exceptions. The SHS personal electronic devices policy states, “Devices are prohibited unless approved by the teacher while they are in the learning environment/classroom.
In some very unique situations, students with identified disabilities or medical needs may have to keep their personal electronic device with them during the school day.”
Perry Township’s decision to ban phones is in students’ best interest and is designed to do them a favor. But, there are some major cons. The student’s feelings and how they will adjust were forgotten when making this change.
Humans hate change, and changing something so ingrained in student routines will come with struggle and challenges.
From my experience, being forced to trade my phone for a calculator in math class feels unnecessary and controlling.
Instead of helping me focus on the lesson, losing access to my phone has made me more distracted and stressed. I start questioning myself and start to overthink things like, “Are my parents texting me?”
It’s devastating that the tools we use as students are being taken away from us this easily. Most of the time, teachers won’t even let students have music when they can’t have their phones. Some students need that resource to focus and concentrate on their work. Having to go from using it every day to not having it the next school year has had a significant impact.
Anything could be used for either good or bad, and that’s the thing with having phones in school. If students use their phones as a resource that benefits their learning experience, taking away that resource will have a drastic negative impact. This can change a student’s style of learning or how students handle tasks throughout the day.
Phones are a resource that I, and many other students, use, for example, to take photos of notes on the board before they get erased or to look at them when notes can’t be pulled out. Phones are also used to put reminders immediately about deadlines or events.
In the end, the decision to ban phones isn’t just about keeping students focused. It’s about how we choose to adapt to the world we live in. Instead of taking away things that help us, we should find ways to use them to our advantage and discover how to best enhance our learning ourselves.
