Technology’s continuous advancement has led to the ability for students to have cellphones in classrooms, which leaves teachers worried about cheating and parents worried about screen time. As a result, a bill was proposed to ban cell phones in Texas high schools called House Bill 515. If this bill passes, it would mean that students would be required to hand in their cell phones at the beginning of the day, where they would be held in a locked container and handed back at the end of the school day.
There are some exceptions to this, a child would be given back their phone in order to contact a parent or guardian in case of emergency. Another exception is if the child has a verifiable medical condition that would require the child to be able to access their phone. Outside of those exceptions, no kid is allowed to have their phone throughout the school day.
Representative Ellen Troxclair introduced the bill in November by posting a video on Facebook to explain the introduction of the bill beginning with blaming cell phones for heightened suicide rates among teenagers. She stated that teens spend 5 hours or more on social media every day and receive 20 notifications an hour. However, she provided no evidence or sources to corroborate this information. She seems to create these statistics out of her own bias. I find it interesting that Troxclair is speaking out against social media on a social media platform. The hypocrisy of posting her argument on social media as well as the lack of sources for her claims is not a good look for this bill.
Troxclair claims that schools in Texas that have already implemented a phone ban have experienced a decrease in suspensions, bullying, and cheating. If schools in Texas have already started to ban phones, why would the bill be necessary? Other schools surely would have seen these benefits and implemented their own ban unique for their schools values. However, Troxclair has again provided no sources for this claim. To gain more attention she started a social media hashtag #AwayForTheDay, representing Troxclair wanting to keep phones and distractions away from kids during the school day.
This hashtag received mixed messages from parents online. Many parents raised the concern of being able to contact their children during the day. Personally, my mother enjoys checking up on me during my day, as it gives her peace of mind knowing that I’m safe. Being able to talk to my family during the school day helps me with my anxiety, especially surrounding dangers at school.
Active threats at school are a huge problem in the US and cause many students anxiety. For myself and a lot of other students, getting through the day is hard enough with the rise of school shootings and other threats in the US. It will only be more difficult with the restriction of our communication.
Even during lockdown drills, I feel the need to contact my parents because even helpful procedures can cause distress. Communicating with my parents, watching a movie, or even just playing a simple game during my freetime helps me destress and feel safer at school. This bill takes that away.
I don’t believe that phones cause excessive distraction as many adults believe. Some kids might be more prone to distraction with phones, but that’s something for the child and their parents to figure out, not the school. Taking away phones will do more harm than good. For me the ability to contact my parents is paramount. For others, they might need some sort of distraction during their freetime to destress before a class or during lunch.
In the end, whether a kid gets their phone at school is a decision for the parents and family, the school shouldn’t have the power to take away contact with the parents.
