You have most likely heard of the new phone policy at some point this year. Either over the announcements, or from a teacher, this policy isn’t unheard of by many. If you do happen to be unaware, a new phone policy was introduced at the beginning for the 2024-2025 school year. Its goal was to allow students to have access to their phones while still putting restrictions on the amount of usage. The rule states that students may now only use their phones during passing periods, throughout lunch or at the end/beginning of the day. It also reminds  you to put your bags in the back of the room. Now, teachers are guaranteed a set amount of time where the students will be able to pay attention more easily. This new policy seems to bring many great benefits; however, the negatives vastly outweigh the positives for multiple reasons.

The main issue with the new phone policy is that it strips away independence that is crucial for a devolving teenager. If a student is caught using a phone during class, the worst punishment would be to have their phone taken away for a few hours. This is a minor inconvenience, and doesn’t affect the student very much. Once a student graduates high school and gets a job later in life, the consequence will be much worse. If students don’t learn from an early age how to have self control over their phone, they may end up getting fired from a job. If students are allowed to have control over whether it’s a good or bad idea to use their phone throughout the day, it will teach them a valuable skill of self-control for later in life. Since we cannot have phones in class, the chance of learning this skill is stripped away.

Another major problem with the phone policy is placing your backpacks in a certain area within the room. This is a large issue for many reasons. Not only is it a safety concern, but it’s a distraction as well. When a student places their bag against the wall, their seat is usually across the room. This means that they must bring all the materials needed for class to their seat. Often, many students will forget things in their bags. For me, it is not an uncommon occurrence to have multiple students getting up throughout the class period to access their bag. This disrupts their learning flow, as well as distracting the teacher.

Time is also taken out of the class period and designated to use for packing up.  This wastes valuable learning that would be better used if students could have their bags next to them. Although some teachers may not give time to pack up, it still can cause you to be late to your next class. This happens because the backpacks are often very far away and it takes a few minutes to pack everything up and leave. When your backpack is right next to you, it is much easier to pack up slowly while class is still going on. Additionally, the bags in a pile can cause an accident. The rule is intended to be “safe”, but mistakes happen. If a student isn’t looking they may trip or fall over the bags. If there was an emergency situation, such as a fire, students may be so panicked that they fall over the bags. Even in everyday life, these bags are still a huge tripping hazard. A better solution would be if students were allowed to keep their materials, and bags, next to their seats.

With this rule in place, students suffer many consequences. A more fair resolution would be to allow students access to their phones and backpacks during class. In conclusion, the no phone policy is harmful because it takes away the ability to learn self control when it comes to phones, it can be a safety hazard, and accessing bags during the class wastes learning time.