Summary
Cellphone bans in schools are gaining bipartisan momentum, with at least eight states, including California, Florida, and Virginia, enacting restrictions to combat classroom distractions and protect children’s mental health.
Governors from both parties, such as Arkansas’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders and California’s Gavin Newsom, support these measures, citing benefits of phone-free school days.
While some parents oppose bans, citing emergencies and transportation needs, proponents argue phones disrupt learning and may pose risks during crises.
States differ on implementation, from outright bans to district-level policies or funding for phone storage solutions.
In general I think cell phones in school are a bad plan.
In America when violent terrorists are going to be emboldened by Trump? And after Uvalde? I’d tell my kid fuck the rules, you keep your cell phone on you at all times.
Wait, you want your kid to be talking and making noise while there’s an attacker?
Do you only have a landline? Phones these days have the ability to send messages by typing little letters by tapping on a screen and sending those letters to someone else with a phone that has a screen on it where they can type letters back the same way.
I’m not surprised you haven’t heard about that though, it’s pretty new technology.
I love you, goodbye.
First of all, there are emergency services that could be contacted with this new “texting” technology you apparently haven’t heard of.
Secondly, if you thought you were about to die, wouldn’t YOU want to tell the people you loved that you loved them one last time? Because I sure as fuck would.
Hm, phone addiction disrupting child mental development or the very rare chance of a shooter so you and a bunch of people can redundantly alert authorities. Honestly, I don’t have a dog in this. I’m fine with either.
Sorry, are you under the bizarre impression that teens don’t already have phones?
Honestly, I don’t have a dog in this.
You clearly don’t, so maybe let the people who do have kids work this out.
I have a “soft” bias, obviously. But really, I don’t want to antagonize anyone who has a hard opinion on it. You do you, and find out what works best for you and your family.
I would assume they have learned to read and write by this point
I assume you mean texting? I wouldn’t want my kids talking or being at all distracted while they’re currently being in the most dangerous situation they have ever faced. But that’s just me, I guess. Maybe the I love you goodbye notes is worth it. I honestly don’t know.
Is your kid going to stop the person shooting up the school with their phone? What’s the goal here?
I’m not expert on these things, but I hear phones can be a line to the outside world in a crisis. Anyone know if that’s true? Can you use a phone to call people or anything like that?
You don’t think there would be people, teachers and staff with cell phones?
I think the more people with ways to get lines of communication out during a crisis involving someone murdering children the better. I’m not sure why you don’t.
That isn’t strictly true. A dispatch center will prefer some communication over other. Not saying anything about phones in school specifically, but generally “more comms” is not always a good thing. Better comms is.
Just being able to be the first one to contact 911 if they saw the killer come into the school would be enough. But like I suggested to others, giving both parents and kids the peace of mind by allowing them the chance to say goodbye to each other in a country with constant school shootings is an even bigger reason.
Solve the endless school shootings issue and I will be 100% behind a cell phone ban in American schools.
I’m not sure why you think children should hold that responsibility.
It’s not a responsibility, it’s a precaution. Note I didn’t say that I would tell my child what they absolutely had to do. I can’t speak for your kids, but mine wouldn’t need to feel a responsibility because they know the difference between right and wrong and they don’t want people to get hurt, so if they were the first person to see a gunman enter a school, they would want to be the first person to call 911.
I don’t know what happened with you, but most people don’t suddenly become a self-aware people who care about others the day they turn 18.
I would also like her to be able to say goodbye and she loves us if she wants that tiny bit of comfort during the last moments of her life.
In a universe where my kids are getting kevlar backpacks, you will never see me agree to this.
I will put a new burner phone in their lunch daily if it comes to it.
Probably more economical to buy the kid a tub of lube and teach them to keister it at that point :D
Seriously though, I fully agree. Even here in Europe, there’s always ‘something’ that can happen. And I’d want a direct line to my kid just in case.
Are you a Bell 412 or a McDonnell Douglas MD500?
Nah, they can do whatever with the phone otherwise. But we literally have shooter drills and lockdowns on the regular because we can’t figure out guns like literally every other civilized nation on earth.
Not sending them into that scenario with nothing but good graces and the hope that the police don’t just camp outside the building again.
I’m not sure where I land on this debate.
What I am sure of is that most teachers would still have cell phones, so the idea that kids couldn’t make a call to emergency services doesn’t seem relevant. I’m sure a call from any teacher or other employee would be just as effective. Claiming kids need phones so that they can call 911 in an emergency isn’t relevant.
The fact that we have to discuss whether or not kids need to have phones available during school because of school shootings – that’s the truly insane part. I’m no longer convinced that any body count would produce effective “well regulated” gun control in the US.
Claiming kids need phones so that they can call 911 in an emergency isn’t relevant.
No, it’s definitely relevant when we keep hearing that the first calls from several of these attacks have been from students.
Seeing the unaddressed issue of bullying to class interruption if not cheating, dumb phones like the blackberry type should be allowed aka ban smartphones and not cellphones.
Me, going on 48: “they let kids have cellphones in school?”
I have several friends who teach at middle- and high-school grade levels, and they all tell me the same thing: There aren’t really clear rules in place governing cell phone use during class so kids are just fucking around with them all day, and even where the rules are clear, they have no authority to actually take a cell phone from a kid, even if they’re being disruptive to the rest of the students.
On the other hand, an all-out ban (and even “phone storage solutions”) just creates a new problem; keeping a potentially life-saving tool out of the hands of students in emergency situations.
I’m almost certainly over-simplifying this, but why not:
- Let the kids keep their phones
- Set forth strict guidelines for their use while on school property, and
- Ensure teachers have the authority to enforce those guidelines.
As an elder millennial I struggle to see the problem honestly. When cell phones first came out and teenagers started getting them when I was in high school, the policy was you could have the phone in your bag, but if the teacher saw it during class they would take it away and your parents would have to come get it at the end of the day.
I am not sure when schools started allowing phones to be a free for all, but going back to the original phone rules I had seems like the easiest solution no? Kids still have the phones in case of emergency, but they cannot use them during class. Is the concern about the confrontation of taking the phone from the kids? That’s the only argument I can see, but if they resist, send them out! I’m genuinely confused here.
This is what I was advocating for, with the additional caveat of the admin doing their part.
My friend who teaches at a local high school told me about at least two instances where parents berated her when they came to retrieve the phone, and having no backing from the school administration. It’s easy to imagine that, at some point, it’s not worth it to enforce rules if you’re just going to get screamed at for it.
Easy compromise here… ban smart phones, not cell phones.
Snake will rise again
Kids should be allowed to have cell phones so they can learn good habits and self control with them.
What? That’s crazy talk. Schools are clearly only for warehousing kids in the most orderly manner possible. We let life punch them in the face the second they graduate, it’s the American way.
and what are kids supposed to do when their school is attacked by a gunman? a phone is their only survival tool
Have you guys tried banning usage of phones? Like literally just that? Having a phone im your pocket is one thing, but not being allowed to use it except for X is an option. X= a room, a special time or “just to look up school schedule info”
This works…it doesn’t have to work 100%, eveb 80% is enough.
How do the chartreuse states feel about it?
Ban guns first. Else let students call or text their parents when a shooter gets to school.
Why is this a political issue? Banning phones should be the school’s decision
Everything in society is political. A school’s decision is a localized political decision. The AoE is the only difference
