These cell phone bans by school systems are going to work about as well as prohibition did during the 1920s. We are trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. That technology is here to stay whether we ban it or not. Let me say that I understand the reasoning behind the bans, but the bans won’t work. There are pros and cons to student technology. I will attempt to address a massive issues in a short post…
Cons: The real issue is that students have access to instantaneous communication with other people (especially students) which cannot be monitored, and they also have instantaneous access to social media. Student access to social media is a huge problem. It is addictive, destructive at times, and is permanent. Students can also film people making mistakes. Teachers are going to make them. Students are going to make them. That raw video gets out there with or without context, and lives get ruined over sometimes minor things. There is a saying in sports that athletes need a cooling down period after a loss. Yep, they do, or they will possibly say something in the heat of the moment. When students have access to instantaneous communication, any upsetting event can get framed without context and especially without cooling off first(and seeing the bigger picture). Lastly, some students use phones/phone apps to consciously and purposefully harm other students. That can happen in a number of ways, and it can happen at school without a grown-up even knowing about it. Truly, using phones at school without supervision is a unique and nearly impossible problem to manage without students being really bought-in to using them correctly.
Pros: Safety. Educators, those phones are coming to school regardless of bans. It will eventually be a Constitutional issue. Unless backpacks are searched, they will be there, and often they will be there with emphatic parent consent. There is no law prohibiting cell phone usage that I know of – just school board and district policies. And ya’ll, the law and free speech is going to win the day. Cell phones have prevented countless late pick-ups from school, countless “crossed wires” where one parent picks up(and the other parent shows up at school panicked and wanting to know where their child is), countless changes in plans going home(example: student goes to a friends house), and countless safety issues where a student can call for help. Cell phones are useful. Of course, the big issue is parents want students to have a phone if a safety issue occurs at school – absolutely justifiable reason. The kicker is that students still need those phones for the other aforementioned reasons. Knowing where our kids are(via Life360) has saved many thousands of agonizing moments. Many forget the times(“pre” cell phone) that police have had to be called to campus to find a child who took a different way home, caught a ride with another parent, or any other reason a child wasn’t on time after school. Those moments are gut wrenching and often preventable if a phone is on the child.
In conclusion, these cell phone bans will not work in the long run. We are going to have to develop policies in conjunction with families and teachers which work. I believe most students will use cell phones correctly in schools if there are clear guidelines, easily enforceable consequences, and parent/student support.
Pro Tip: Technology is advancing faster than we can govern it on school campuses. I don’t have a great solution, but our rules need to be adaptable and forward thinking as smart phones aren’t getting dumber. Technology in the hands of our students can be a powerful thing, even cell phones. For now, I am in favor of keeping them in schools, turned off until maybe lunch(only to touch base w/ caregivers), and kept in backpacks. If a student breaks that rule, then consequences probably need to be present in a 3-strikes and you’re out plan. That is a very short post about a very BIG issue in schools. We need to learn to work with the technology instead of simply banning something which is going to come to school anyway.
