Phones Should be Banned in School Essay Example

Did you know that the original cell phone cost $2,500? That's over $7,000 today. Nowadays you can obtain a modern one for $800. Students are slowly becoming obsessed with their phones and devices. The cell phone was first invented and released to the public in 1983. Ever since then, designs and technology have become exponentially better. We now can access more information in the palm of our hands than anyone could ever receive access to just at the beginning of the 2000s, even. Phones in schools should be banned.

Although these devices are becoming needed in everyday life, we don’t think that they are needed, or rather, are a distraction to students in school. In March of last year, Phys released an article where they stated, “We found banning mobile phones at schools leads to an increase in student performance.”(Louis-Philippe Beland) This shows that many people all over the US are saying that these phones can decrease grades and GPA (Grade Point Average) if used too much, which many students do. Themuse also said in an article, "It takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task."(Stacey Lastoe) This just reinforces the fact that if someone, a student, gets on their phone, how much it takes to refocus on important tasks such as schoolwork. This is why having phones in schools is distracting and decreasing education levels.

There’s been talk about the negative mental and emotional effects of cell phones. The article titled Screen time: Overview mentioned, “Children and teens who spend too much time in front of a screen may seem: lonely, sad, overly tired, stressed or fearful, isolated from friends or family, withdrawn, nervous, agitated or tense, aggressive or angry.”(SickKids staff, 5/20). In other words, there are a few side effects reported that are associated with having a phone. This can impact the ability of a student because a stressed and anxious student could either be extremely distracted or gain less sleep. This causes low amounts of energy and or sleeping in class. A helpguide.org article titled “Social Media and Mental Health” says, “While the fear of missing out (FOMO) has been around far longer than social media, sites such as Facebook and Instagram seem to exacerbate feelings that others are having more fun or living better lives than you are.”(Lawrence Robinson, 8/21). FOMO is the fear of missing out. This is what often causes addiction to cell phones. This can lead to missing instructions at school, distract you from getting home, and can cause you to completely zone into the device. They later go on to say, “The idea that you’re missing out on certain things can impact your self-esteem, trigger anxiety, and fuel even greater social media use.”(Lawrence Robinson, 8/21) This also reinforces the idea that social media causes mental health issues. If these devices are removed from at least school, a lot of people are going to have addictive lives. It also can lead to students graduating higher and getting better jobs. Mental health is important and if we took these devices away, mental health stats would go up and more people would be happy.

Most people claim that phones are needed in schools because they’d help if there were an emergency. A study from Learning Safe says, “Another danger is that by ringing or vibrating, a cell phone can reveal to a shooter where hiding places are.”(Learningsafe, 2018). This helps the idea that if a student forgets to put their phone on silent or they talk loud on the phone, the point of getting help wouldn’t be helpful. They later go on to say, “It may seem like a good idea for students to utilize social media to notify loved ones of their safety. The shooter could monitor social media to find out information as well.”(Learningsafe, 2018). Many students tend to put emergencies on social media while it’s going on. Something they don’t mention but is important is, there have been many cases where someone has been nearly burned to death because they were worried about getting help. In conclusion, leave the calling and then receive help from the adults. They have phones they can use, and if they are office staff, they have direct lines to 911 instead of having to sit through a robot to get a hold of an officer.

All that being said, they believe think that phones should be banned or prohibited in schools. It makes sense why someone would say that phones should be allowed in school. If you decide to take any of this into account, good on you. Here’s a cool fact. More than four million phones are bought every single day, about 42% of that, being for a teen.