Lately, teen phone usage is at an all-time high, whether it be texting, playing games, listening to music, or watching videos. The screen time has started to bleed into learning time as well, as almost all teens take their phones to school. Many choose to be on their phones instead of paying attention in class, causing schools to have to take action. They have implemented phone pouches, pockets that will hold the students’ phone for the duration of the class time. The idea is that if the students don’t have their phones, they won’t be tempted to use them.

There are many kids who never use their phones unless they absolutely need to. It’s unfair that nobody gets to use their phones just because of a few kids who were abusing their phone use during class time. There are also many students who need to have their phones on them for a variety of reasons. Some need their phone for medical reasons, like checking glucose, or have a family emergency happening. Those people need to be with their phones. While you could just give those students special access to their phones, that could cause jealousy or students lying in order to keep their phone.

What would happen if there was a school-wide emergency, like a fire or a shooting? Many students get comfort by messaging or calling a family member. If there is a fire, students would all have to stop to grab their phones out of the pouches. That may not seem like a lot of time, but think about over 20 students blocking the way to the door for their phones, when they could easily just grab their phones out of their pocket or backpack. If there is a fire in the school, they need to get out as fast as possible.

I know that many people say that phone pockets are better because they increase focus. However, I don’t really think that’s true. Not only will taking away students’ phones make them stressed and irritable, but many students also use music to help them focus on assignments. I feel like many teens now have a big fear of missing out. This attachment to our phones causes anxiety, worry, sadness, and even anger when they get taken away.

I know that many people like to argue that kids and teens today are “addicted to their phones”, but that isn’t our fault. Who were the ones who let their kids grow up with ipads and TVs and phones? As a little kid, I didn’t worry about the repercussions of how much I’m on my ipad, or how close I’m sitting to the TV, or how much I actually play outside. The people who decide those things are the parents, the people who are annoyed about our screen time. So, to be frank, it’s their fault for not monitoring their children better. It’s their fault that our attention spans are so short that we can’t go a few hours without looking at our phones. Of course 8 hours of screen time is bad, but that’s what we grew up with. Our brains are trained to need constant entertainment, or else we become uninterested. And yes, we need to get better at this, but it will be a long process, and taking phones away will only make it worse.

While this is happening, in other classrooms, it is not as big of a problem. Some teachers are very relaxed about the policy, or just don’t use the pouches all together. Some teachers choose to just keep phones if they catch students playing on them, which I think is a great idea. It doesn’t punish the class for something that one kid is doing, and it allows students who don’t abuse their phone time to keep their phones on them. 

I believe that it should be up to the students if they want to use their phones. As long as they aren’t distracting other students or being a nuisance, I don’t see it as a problem. If they miss instructions or class work, that’s up to them. If they get behind in school, then their own parents can take away their kids’ phones, but that shouldn’t be the school’s problem.

Overall, I view this new investment as more of a negative than a positive. It not only punishes students who didn’t do anything bad, but it also may cause issues down the road. Students who need their phones won’t have them, and the phone pockets are just unnecessary. I believe these will cause more problems than solutions.