Banning vs Policy

(Chat-GPT, 2024)

This is how I see today’s debate. I have worked at a school with an outright ban on cell phones and a school that welcomes them with open arms. 2024 was a challenging year for my community and cell phone usage. Three grade 12 students were caught using cell phones on campus to film in the female washroom spaces. It was terrifying for me as a woman, teacher, and mother on campus to think that my students, my daughter, or even myself could have been filmed. However, even though it was a traumatic year dealing with feelings of failure as a teacher and attempting to assist students with their complex feelings around the issue, I still believe that cell phones shouldn’t be banned in schools.

This video makes an interesting claim about separation and performance. In my classroom experience, losing the phone often causes my learners anxiety. It leaves them unable to concentrate in class. They worried about the outcome of their phones: Would they talk to the principal before they could have it? Would their parents be contacted? Would they lose the phone altogether? Having an outright ban in the classroom doesn’t curb these questions because students will continue to bring their devices into the school regardless. When we prohibit something, we build tunnels under Moose Jaw to gain access to it or at least hide it somewhere in school. When my previous school banned technology, students downloaded WeChat, China’s number one chat app, on their laptops. It didn’t matter which device it was on; they would find a way to use it.

Photo from Pinterest

This is why policy is essential. Just like citizens of a country follow government policy, or we teachers follow school policy, students must learn how to navigate the world through policies mandated by a particular environment. Do workplaces outright ban cell phones when workers take a break or respond to family? No, they don’t. Workers understand, for the most part, that cell phones perhaps can’t be used on the “floor,” but this depends on a particular space’s policies. Even the research on the KSL News video shared by the affirmative side of the debate indicates that school bans aren’t the answer. Students come to learn not only curriculum but also life skills. Isn’t it important to teach them how to follow policy and what consequences are in place if they don’t? Schools are meant to be a safe zone to make mistakes that could prove costly in public. Using cell phone policy in class, either school-wide or teacher-directed, is an excellent step toward helping our learners use their phones responsibly.

“Some educators and parents also argue teenagers need to learn to use phones responsibly” (Randazzo & Barnum, 2024).

Teachers and parents serve as role models for cell phone use. How many of us can say that we use the phone appropriately all the time? Most of us certainly don’t, myself

(StableDiffusionXL, 2024)

included. That is why I now take mindful steps when using my phone around my students and my daughter. Gone are the days when I played on it during supper after I noticed that my daughter wanted to watch the Tablet while eating because her dad and I were on our phones. Gone are the days when I might silently send a text during class; I now loudly announce to my students when I am going to use my phone and why, just as I expect them to do so during class. Gone are the days of toileting scrolling. After the incident I mentioned before, the school implemented a new policy of phones having to stay in the class when students or teachers go to the bathroom. I try to make an effort to do the same at home. If we want to see change, we have to change.