As most of you may not know a new bill has been approached about banning the use of cell phones in Michigan schools, I can agree and mostly disagree. 

As I did some research, according to WXYZ.com having cell phones is a big distraction and students are on them increasingly in the classroom. Some teachers say having cell phones in class makes it harder for them to teach. A child psychiatrist has put his input in and has said “I do not think kids should have their cell phones in the classroom. Too much screen time and lead to social anxiety and other mental health concerns.” Most parents are not happy with this new bill because if this bill were to go into effect more parents would be more concerned about their kid’s safety. According to republican Gary Eisen, he says “making it a law would take the pressure off the schools and avoid crowded board meetings, but the ban won’t go into effect until next year.” 

As I can I say there are some things I can agree on but the majority of them I cannot agree on. I can agree that cell phones are a distraction in class while the teacher is talking, I can speak for myself and say I get on my phone 3-5 times per class. I think I can get distracted by my phone, but I know I can control myself. I do not agree with banning phones for reasons such as, Safety; it is not guaranteed all students have transportation to and from home. Banning cell phones would limit students from communicating with friends or family that could be their ride. Also, schools are extremely strict on who they let in the building, after school no one is allowed to sit and wait inside of the building and wait for a ride and standing outside is way more dangerous than standing inside. Another reason is, as a student myself, I can access more educational websites better on my phone than my computer 

I personally do not think that this bill should go into effect at all. It is not safe and will cause many problems when it comes to the parents, banning phones from school will cause more problems than having phone in school. 

I talked to a few students about their opinions on us and these were their responses: 

Student 1: “I don’t think I need my phone in class but when it comes down to it, it’s more about communication and my safety.” 

Student 2: “I think they should not ban phones because if they ban phones, for high school students, it will feel like they are not treating us as adults. As a safety issue I do not think it will be safe because if something happens, they cannot ask anyone for help. It would honestly be no point for this ban to go into effect because students will sneak to school anyway.”