The SPECTRUM

Volume 31

The SPECTRUM

The SPECTRUM

    Staff Editorial: Cell phone policy is here to stay

    Students looking at their phones. Students texting their friends. Students playing games on their phones in the library. These days are gone.
    With the reinstatement of the cell phone ban, mixed feelings are felt throughout the school community. After the ban at the beginning of the school year, cell phones were not allowed to be used or seen between first and eighth period except for in the grade lounges. This unexpected change has left many of us unhappy and confused about what the rule is and why it was put in place.
    However, the cell phone policy is in place whether we like it or not. We have already gotten our warnings and detentions. Not only students, but teachers have stopped carrying their cell phones all together. All of us – teachers, students, and faculty – are all subject to the new rule. We cannot control the cell phone policy but we can all control how we respond to it.
    We need to learn to embrace the cell phone policy. It was put in place for a reason – to alleviate distractions and bolster focus. Many of us believe that the policy has succeeded at doing its job. The purpose of the school is to educate and inform students – if cell phones hinder its ability to do so, then the faculty is correct in its decision to take them away.
    We all need to put aside our individual opinions toward the policy and as a whole community embrace it. The cell phone policy is here to stay, and it’s here with good reason. The whole community has witnessed the effect of cell phones; they discourage social interaction and often provide an easy distraction to students and teachers alike.
    In the long run, this ban is going to help us more than it will hurt us. Even though technology is rapidly becoming a more prominent part of our lives and can be used for great purposes, it also has the potential to hinder our capacity to learn. Technology hasn’t been banned altogether – rather, the Middle School decided to ban only our phones, arguably the electronics used least for school and educational purposes. We’re still able to take advantage of all of the educational resources that technology provides. The ban specifically targeted cell phones because of their few uses educationally and the distractions that they presented both inside and outside of the classroom. Many students use their phones to play games, text friends, or watch videos. This can lead to a distracting environment for ourselves and others. We can still use our computers for school purposes.
    However, our anguish is understandable as is the opposition to the ban and the hesitation to abide by it. We’ve been given so much freedom with technology in the past that the cell phone ban is a stark contrast to what we’re used to. Yet we need to realize why the cell phone policy was instated in the first place, and we need to start managing the use of our electronics without intervention from the administration.
    The cell phone policy obviously is not without its own drawbacks; students relied heavily on the ID app as well as iHW, but we have to weigh the pros and cons and realize that while we are losing a little, we are gaining a lot.

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