Phone bans - more problem than solution

By Raena Hunter Doty Editorial Staff In August, The New York Times published an article called “Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones,” describing new measures put in place to curb phone usage during school hours. As a college student planning on going into the education field, I feel uniquely qualified to comment on this. I strike a balance between the two groups - teachers and students, who are often posed in diametric opposition to one another - because I identify with both. Reading this article, I understood where the teachers’ frustration with phone use is coming from and why there’s a push to legislate that phones go in pockets or backpacks or lockers. But as a student and a future educator, I don’t believe legislation is the right way to solve the problem of phone dependence. Don’t get me wrong - I believe phone dependence is a serious issue. Most of all, I’m concerned about my own phone dependence. I take active measures to combat this, including using apps to limit screen time and doing my best to keep it out of sight and out of mind. But if I didn’t recognize my problem, I’d feel violated by someone telling me what to do with my time and property. Phones aren’t just totems of distraction and vehicles for apps like TikTok and Cookie Clicker. Phones are a means of connection. As an out-of-state student, I would be entirely disconnected from my family without my phone, not to mention my friends who live in different states and even countries. It’s logical for me to feel an emotional connection to my phone - and I have to assume that’s true of high school students as well. The digital generations have been told for our entire lives that phones equal safety. An unanswered text can conjure images of worst-case scenarios. Students don’t want to leave their loved ones in suspense or fear that something went wrong in the middle of the school day - a distinct possibility given the state of gun violence in the country. Teenagers already often feel out of control in their lives. How many teenagers can’t drive? Don’t have money? Don’t feel secure in the modern political or economic landscape? Controlling them more will be met with resistance. This makes sense. When forcing them not to use their phones, the most you can ask for is their apathy toward their own lack of agency. And apathy doesn’t make for a good educational environment. Again, I acknowledge that phone dependence is an issue - even for myself, I’m constantly seeking solutions. But that’s the key - I’m engaged in finding solutions and view it as a positive change. I don’t mean to make you think I have any answers. I don’t. All I know is this is a multi-faceted problem that will take many small changes, and banning phones isn’t one of them. We need to make teenagers love learning more than they love spending time on their phones. We need to make education relevant to their lives. We need to stop young children from developing phone dependency in the first place - and for that we need to empower parents to have more time and energy to spend with their kids instead of working constant overtime to afford the skyrocketed price of housing and higher education. If allowing high school students a sense of agency and peace isn’t enough to convince you that banning phones in schools is a bad idea, we also need to allow phones in school because of the simple fact that phones are a part of daily life and students need to learn how to have phones - and other technology - without allowing them to be a distraction. Most jobs use phones or laptops in some capacity. Quarantining high school students away from distractions will mean they don’t develop good habits for when they enter the workforce. Although I don’t think high school should be all about workforce preparation, it certainly needs to be a component. Teenagers are people. They’re young people. They’re people who don’t always have the best impulse control. They’re people who are learning to navigate the world - basically, they’re just like anyone else. They deserve dignity and sympathy, and banning phones extends them neither. Is phone dependence a problem? I would say yes. But bans are not a solution.