The phone ban has been hard for some students; all they see is not being able to scroll on social media. They aren’t given the freedom to be able to text their friends or parents. But that’s different from how teachers see it. Teachers see their students learning and being more attentive.
About 72% of teachers around the United States report that phones are a major distraction. Phones are poor for your mental health and letting them into schools can be detrimental to academic performance. They reduce academic performance, which means students take fewer notes in class, have lower comprehension and perform poorly on tests. Notifications urge students to check social media, preventing them from focusing in class. Some studies say it takes up to 20 minutes to refocus after distractions.
From a teacher’s perspective, the phone ban improved focus on in-class instructions by reducing distractions by 68%, leading to better student engagement by 76%. Teachers have reported reduced stress by 85%, improved mental health, higher job satisfaction, and more meaningful face to face interactions with students.
Some negative aspects of the phone ban are that students report feeling like they have been separated, are less safe during emergencies and have limited communication with parents. However, students, after some time in school without their phone, should be able to get over this fear of separation. After looking into the absence of a phone during an emergency, a student not having their phone during an incident would increase the students safety by ensuring their focus on life-saving instructions, instead of being busy trying to text or call their parents or friends.
Students seem to be more engaged in academic activities, understand the curriculum better, participate in more student-student and teacher-student interactions and have better mental health overall. By causing fewer distractions, taking more notes in class and raising their comprehension on tests, school work and homework students can excel in school without the distraction of a phone. If you’re a student you may think that the phone ban is bad, but in reality it’s helping you.
