Editor’s Note: This opinion piece was written and performed for the 2023-24 Mikva Challenge.
On March 6, 2007, seventeen-year-old David Benjamin Turner committed suicide after firing four rounds at Jessica Forsyth, his ex-girlfriend, outside of H.H. Dow High School located in Michigan. A teacher there, Sarah Pancost, says she is still grateful that the students she hunkered down with more than a decade ago had access to their cell phones. Pancost had allowed her students to pull out their phones to reassure their families, who then informed their kids about what was being reported on the incident. Now Pancost always keeps her phone with her and allows students to use their phones because she has never forgotten how important the devices were during the emergency.
Every day, I dread placing my cell phone in a phone locker. Today, I am going to give you three reasons why the banning of cell phones in schools is a problem.
First, it can create safety issues. Unfortunately, safety in schools is constantly being tested by the unpredictable nature of emergencies and cellphones are not easily accessible when the school has a cellphone ban. School shootings are becoming more prevalent especially when there have been more mass shootings than days in 2023. In the past year, the United States has experienced 565 mass shootings so far and 14% have occurred in schools. If you were a student in one of those 77 schools or in one of the 229 schools that have had a school shooting since 2021, a cellular device would have served as your lifeline. Whether that’s to alert authorities, inform your parents, or even instruct law enforcement. Cell phones can save lives.
Second, teens can be left unprepared for life. “If we don’t let kids use cell phones in the classroom, how will they ever learn to use them responsibly in the workplace? Every adult I know uses their phone all day every day. Let’s prepare kids for the real world,” says schoolteacher Matthew B. Courtney. Banning cell phones can also leave students unprepared for life. In this new digital age, cell phones are needed as a productivity tool. Communication in the workplace is heavily dependent on cell phones. Students need to learn how to regulate their cellphone usage in school so that they can know how to regulate them in the workplace. If students don’t have experience with cellphones now, how will they know how to navigate life with them when they get to college or their future careers?
Third, students can help students struggling with their mental health. Students struggle with their mental health especially when their cooped up in a building for most of the day. Technology is a tool, not just a distraction. Technology can help students relax in between classes, take the break they need, and give them access to the real world. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers are mobile health app users. Whether that’s by using a fitness app or a calming app, phones can allow students to stay focused and on task. I’m not asking teachers to allow students to be on their phones all day every day, but students should have access to their phones. Students can silence and put their phones away during class, be aware of their surroundings, refrain from posting on social media during the school day, be good digital citizens, and most importantly, not make teachers, classmates, friends, or family, feel secondary to a phone.
Implementing these policies is vital. Your life could depend on it.
