Wyatt Campuzano '27
My opinion on the phone debate is that they should be allowed and teachers should not be allowed to change that. Adults in the community might call me biased because I am one of the many students who use my phone during the day, whether that be checking the time, texting my parents, or scrolling on TikTok.
I am talking about this subject because, in my last few English classes, we have been learning and talking about the pros and cons of technology whether that be intentional or unintentional. In my class, we recently had a threshing session about this subject. This threshing session made me think about my opinion more deeply.
At first, thinking about whether phones should be banned at AFS, I thought – “absolutely not.” I still think that, but my reasons have shifted. I thought this because in my head, it would be completely unfair to take my phone during my free time during the day. Now the reason has deepened to more unfairness of comparing CommUNITY Day to a regular school day and grouping all the kids into one group.
It is unfair to compare CommUNITY Day to a regular school day because on CommUNITY Day everyone is doing the same thing, and going to the same places, which makes it way easier to know where you are going without checking the time on your phone or the schedule app Saturn. Also, during Community Day, there are no tests, quizzes, or stress from classes.
Stress causes people, or at least me, to want to calm down. The way that I do that is by going on my phone, where my brain gets to rest because I do not need to engage in any unwanted conversation that will stress my brain out even more.
Grouping all the students at AFS into one group without their phones during the school day is wrong because not every student has a screen time problem that needs to be addressed. Some students might be more productive at home, and therefore just want to chill during their free levels because they know they will not get any work done either way.
If I were getting grouped with others who had a problem and I did not, I would feel unheard and uncomfortable in my community, which is not what AFS strives for. In addition, the students whose grades are not the best yet, but still go on their phones anyway, could be assigned mandatory study halls. These study halls would have teachers who could make sure that they were not on their phones while they should be doing their work.
My opinion on phones at AFS is more complicated than just a “yes, they should be allowed,” or a “no, they should be taken every day.” This is a very important policy that affects all the students at AFS, so this is not a policy that can be taken lightly.