There is a new wave of phone pockets being put into classrooms, and students aren’t a huge fan of it. It has been stated by many teachers that they love the idea of these pockets because it causes fewer distractions, and prevents cheating.

Teachers have also stated that these pockets will prevent more students from interrupting their class because they will no longer need to take a student’s phone away. Instead, the pockets will remove their temptation from wanting to get a hold of their phones.

Although this information sounds good education-wise, there are multiple reasons why students shouldn’t have to put their phones inside of their pockets.

For example, a student’s safety is one reason. Safety plays a huge role in the school system, and having a student put away their phone in a pocket for the majority of the day isn’t a smart decision.

Things can happen anywhere, at any time and students will need to get a hold of their parents to let them know what is going on and that their child is safe. Yes; the school will contact the student’s parents and/or guardian, but will they have the time to sit and prepare an email? No! They have to make sure that all students, staff, and themselves are in a safe environment.

With the day-to-day challenges of kids being bullied and overall social media impacts, “I believe less access spent on the phones during class can take the attention away from kids teaming up with one another to bully students, and start fights. I think this will also drive more attentiveness and awareness in class if there are no distractions.” says Kimoralyn Jackson, Junior.

Although cell phones can be beneficial for students, they also come with some downsides.

Pros:

• Better attention span
• Less cheating
• Limits self control
• Higher grades
• More alert to what is going on

Cons:

• Missing important phone calls
• More distractions
• Playing games, not doing work

According to Renaja Rolle, “Sometimes the use of phones in classrooms can cause self-isolation, huge distractions from completing work, and even incorrect information.”

In conclusion, yes there will always be some good reasons why students should be allowed to have their phones on them, but those reasons aren’t always the right way to go.