Cell phones have shaped our generation for the better and the worse. They have developed so fast that we can not even keep track anymore. This causes the unrestricted use of cell phones or inappropriate use of them.
Even though there are many cons of cell phones, how can they benefit school and learning? Schools have had a phone problem for a while, but recently it has become worse. Students are losing focus because of phones, using them for cheating, and even using them for spreading rumors or things that are not just about peers.
Though phones have a lot of cons, we take the positive side of them for granted on school grounds. They help us with our schedules, time, and communicating with friends.
If phones were to be taken away during school hours, our school would have to accommodate it. Many students use their phones to tell the time and help get to classes on time. Without a convenient clock at just the touch of a button, many people would lose track of time and get to class late or not know where they are going at all.
Abington Friends would have to put in many more clocks in the school– not just in classrooms. A big part of the problem is that many students at AFS do not know how to read analog clocks or have not been taught how to use them. Unless AFS opted to use digital clocks, many students would be at a disadvantage.
Phones also help students communicate and get news on time. If there is a schedule change that is very last minute, the only way you’re going to quickly get it is by checking your phone. Since students don’t always check our emails besides the notifications we get on our phones, this would make emailing information much harder.
Students also use phones to communicate with each other and their families. If something were to happen and students didn’t have their phones to text or call their parents or friends, this could also cause unfortunate problems. Phones have ruled our generation for decades, but we are just now figuring out how to handle them.
Sylvie • May 14, 2025 at 7:35 pm
I agree with this perspective because I like to be able to contact my family, or easily read the time on my phone. I experience a bunch of the problems listed in the article as well. My experience on phone free days have been somewhat difficult because I could not talk to my friends and family, (which is something I do a lot during the day) and I had to keep opening up my computer just to tell the time in the hallways. I think that if the school were to go phone free, my experience throughout the school year would be more bored. I use my phone a lot during the school days, like at lunch and free periods. These periods can be from 45 minutes to and hour most days, and I normally don’t have any work I need to complete, so that is why I would use my phone. At my old school, this is what happened for us. Teachers would take everyone’s phone at the beginning of the day, and kids would reluctantly give their phones to them. I remember kids sneaking their phone into lunch, and others asking for theirs back many times in the day. Teachers would get annoyed with the kids asking for theirs back, and kids who still used their phone in the day would be punished. The experience overall left kids upset, and there was no way to contact our parents/family-even through the teachers normally.
cb • May 14, 2025 at 2:50 pm
I agree with this opinion and think that phones can have some negatives to them; however, I think the good outweighs the bad. At the same time, many teachers are concerned because a small demographic of students use them in the wrong way, like cheating, using them during class, etc. I think this also plays a part in why students are happy with the possible decision of banning phones, because they feel that since they did not do anything wrong that they shouldn’t be punished as a result of that. To add to that point, I think a better way of solving this problem would be some way of punishing people misusing their phones while the people not misusing them aren’t. Also, this would most likely encourage more students not to misuse their phones.
N/A • May 14, 2025 at 1:41 pm
I most definitely agree with this article. I believe if phones were to permanently be taken away it would be akin to losing an integral part of our modern lives, similar to having a significant part of our communication yoinked away. Without them, many people might feel isolated and disconnected from others. I remember a teacher talking about how some boy bond over playing games on their phones, and that taking them away will get rid of a common ground they use to bond. More than that, taking away phones in the modern era, with emails and text messages becoming an essential part of schooling, would be unwise. I can’t count the number of times there was a schedule change that I only saw on my phone.
Zhaoye Wang • May 14, 2025 at 1:35 pm
phones have big advantage for everyone. whether it is helpful or not depends on how people use it. just think back how the tech get process during last 200 years. most of people got the advantage and there were must be somebody refused to accept it. don’t you curious what their life be after rejecting the lastest tech? we don’t know whether they successfully avoided the disadvantages or not. but what we can know is: they completely did not get the advantages of the new tech because they even didn’t use it! morphine is created as medicine but many people addicted to it; dynamite is created for mine industry but people use it in war. all in all, there is no bad tech, there is only bad user. the same sense on phones. people overcome many difficulties to invent the phone and why we don’t use that.
Harrison • May 14, 2025 at 1:05 pm
I agree that phones are essential to the every day experience of most students at Abington Friends School. I also agree that phones can be harmful, but the negative effects of phones are more prevalent outside of school. Students are going to use their phones out of school, so changing the policy to be phone free is more of an innocence than helpful to an educational environment. I appreciate the point you made about clocks, because I know many people who struggle with telling time. Also many students can tell the time but sometimes the clocks are incorrect. Phones provide a essential tool for us to be on time.
Derek • May 14, 2025 at 10:49 am
I agree that phones can be positive and negative at the same time. I also believe that banning phones in school would negatively impact students more than positively affect them. Phones are a major convenience, basically being a mini computer that you have easily accessible at all times. I use my phone for homework, schedules, time, and communication on top of other things. While the cons of cell phones are something that needs to be addressed, phones aren’t the sole cause or reason for these problems. Removing phones will not solve these problems, as people will find ways to circumvent these obstacles. When something isn’t outlawed and/or just restricted, you can regulate rules and most uses of it, but when it is outlawed, you cannot regulate it and usually will be out of your control. This same principle happened during the US prohibition. Removing phones from schools is not a good method for fixing issues that phones can cause, and the cons of removing them outweigh the benefits.
Leila • May 14, 2025 at 10:45 am
I agree with the fact that if phones were banned at school, the school would first have to make many accommodations, like more clocks, printed schedules, and maybe something like an intercom so students could hear announcements about places they need to be. But, I personally do not think that phones at school are the problem. I believe that the phone hotels in every classroom was the solution that students and teachers needed. Now, students are not able to use their phones in class, which I believe was the major issue that needed fixing. But I do not believe that students being on their phones during their own frees is a problem unless those students are severely behind in their school work. And to solve that issue could be mandated study halls during their frees where they would have to turn their phones in so they could actually do their work. I believe that this would solve the issue because the only issue I see with students having their phones during the day is getting behind because they spend their time on their phones and not doing work.
Gio Damico • May 14, 2025 at 10:40 am
Neiko, I agree with your opinions on how phones can have negative and positive impacts. Phones can be a distraction and cause cheating and loss of focus, but we students rely on our phones to stay organized, keep track of time, and communicate with others in and outside of school. Ultimately, I believe the school taking our phones would be doing more harm than good, as it will cause many executive functioning issues for many students, including myself, and could also be considered a safety measure because we wouldn’t have easy access to contact our parents or guardians.
Student • May 14, 2025 at 10:05 am
I completely agree with you Neiko. Phones definitely have a positive effect as well as a negative one. Although phones can be helpful there is also a risk when it comes to kids. I feel like parents now tend to throw their kids a screen in their face the minute they start acting up, but what is that doing. Thats now making the child want technology all the time. So now what? As they get older they become so addicted they cant let go cause thats all they were ever exposed to. If AFS goes phone-free a lot of these kids will be moping around and all depressed because they dont have their phone on them but honestly it’s not a big deal. Some kids can struggle when it comes to time or getting to class on time, even receiving emails could be an issue. So there are many pros and cons when it comes to the topic of phones, but I do agree phones have shaped our generation for the worse and for the better.
Amir • May 14, 2025 at 10:01 am
I agree with the positives of a phone. There are many benefits to having phones. I think people should recognize that not everyone is attached and many people use their phones for personal reasons like communication, telling time, canvas, and being on time for class. Many of the clocks don’t work here, and they are just going to keep breaking. We all use our phones to communicate with our families, no matter where we are. It’s also a safety thing. Your parents can see where you are, and if you are somewhere random, they could check in on you. Some students don’t know how to read clocks, so what would they do?
Jaylan • May 14, 2025 at 9:57 am
For most of the problem mentioned with phone use, I do not think phones in schools are the problem but it the fault of the people committing them. With things like cheating, students will have always done it even before phones were and thing and students still will continue. Even if schools take away phones during the day, kids will find a way around it to continue cheating with other methods. Also with things like spreading rumors, if phones are taken away during school hours, people will just wait until they get their phones back and then the rumors will spread and they will just talk to people during school about whatever rumor it might be. Even without phones, students will find a way to continue these unsavory actions so taking them away would be meaningless and even hurt students as they are great tools for other things such as communication.
Jenny • May 14, 2025 at 9:46 am
I agree with the positives of phones as well as the problematic consequences of banning phones mentioned in this article. However, as for the cons of phone, the article seems to put the focus of dis-integrity on phones while in my opinion, it is usually dependent on people—if this person really want to cheat, they could cheat as well without the phone. My personal experience of the two phone-free day was horrible, not because of the inconvenience brought by the lack of phone, but for the feeling of being restricted about what I can do and I cannot. I felt like strictly banning phones give me a sense of raping my “free will” to discipline myself as the way I want, and lacking my phone all day long only made me use it more out of the ‘make-up” psychological effect. If AFS goes phone-free next year, I think that a lot of students might regret going here. There would be indeed students who accept banning phones, but I think that the core of AFS should be Quakerism-related: we need to achieve census agreement, not to say the inconvenience caused by banning phones.