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Should students be allowed to use cell phones in school setting?

Should we allow the students to have cell phones in a classroom or in a school is one of

the most hotly debated topics. Alarming stats keep emerging from different parts of world of

students using cell phones in classrooms/schools rather than concentrating on their studies. PEW

survey stated that 65% of teenagers having cell phones bring their cells in school, ban or no ban,

the survey was held in 2010. (“Cohen”) Students sitting in their classrooms with their books

wide open in front of them, holding a cell phone pretending to read while they actually are not.

Deceiving, isn’t it? Using cell phones should be banned in classrooms or even in the school

entirely. Just ban this thing for a month and you’ll actually see results as cell phones are nothing
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but a distraction to students and their studies. I actually don’t get the use of cell phone in

classroom after all, why is it necessary anyway to have a cell phone in class setting? I don’t think

anyone has the answer to this question because there is none. Cell phones are totally irrelevant in

school or at least in a classroom.

The use of technology is getting more and more horrid these days, as technology was

meant to utilize in a positive way, to help people with their problems and not for cheating or

other immoral purposes. The rate of cheating via cell phones is mounting day by day, according

to a report; the rate jumped to 6% in on year as students manages to sneak in with their cell

phones in exam rooms. Hidden Earpiece popularly known as concealed earpiece is also a way to

cheat as it is almost invisible and can’t be seen easily and is quite popular among students

nowadays. (“Williams”) You just have to speak slowly and your friend on the other side will

help you out right away.

According to a poll (National Poll) more than 35% of teens admitted that they use cell

phones for cheating purposes and half of them admitted that they use internet to look for answers

in exams. (“35% of Teens Admit to Using Cell Phones to Cheat”) Horrifying it is, as parents

send their children to schools to study wholeheartedly, to learn something so that they can get

good jobs afterwards but what they do is to cheat on exams and get them passed. Even they

manage to pass their exams, what good would such degree do to them? They won’t get the basic

knowledge by passing their exams by cheating. Such a shameful state of affairs it is, indeed.

Also, most of the teachers complain that the students while having cell phones on them

are not 100% attentive, some of them play games and some of them stay busy in chatting with

other students. One of the teachers on a debate thread online was seen complaining about the use
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of cell phones in classrooms, she says cell phones are distracting and listening to music or

watching videos is one of the main distractions. Sometimes the cell phone rings and it not only

distracts the owner but the whole class including the teacher, it disrupts the whole setting. She

further says that she is extremely happy that cell phones are prohibited in her school/class. She

feels texting “super distracting” in a classroom. (“Should students be allowed to use cell phones

in school”)

According to a research excessive use of cell phones can cause psychological problems

also it can affect the eyesight severely. So, it’s better to use it moderately as much as possible.

The more students use cell phones, the more their parents have to pay for the credit, internet and

repair and they tend to use the internet for every problem instead of using their personal

intellectual capabilities.

Some people say, actually most of them. They say cell phones are a necessity as parents

would be too scared to let go off their children without a cell phone that they would at least know

the whereabouts of their children when they are away from home. Parents want to their children

to have cell phones so that can keep check on where they are and inform them immediately in

case of any emergency.

I get it, I totally get it but the solution to this situation is very simple. School

Administrations should revisit their policies about the use of cell phones; they must restrict the

use of cell phones to a particular time or area. Students should be allowed to use cell phones in

the lunch break and after getting freed from school activities completely. During school hours,

the cell phones should be kept in lockers and someone should keep a check on each and every

one of them if they kept it in the locker or not. If this arrangement is too cruel then at least, the
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authorities should ask the students to keep their phones on “Silent” mode or “Switched Off” in a

classroom setting. This should be the default arrangement for every school.

Another arising argument I hear is that a cell phone can be useful to students, it can help

them in studying, doing research and other apps like calculator, map finder, calendar etc. What I

infer is that, cell phones might be helpful in studies but they are more of a distracting tool. If you

have a cell phone in your hand, you’ll automatically want to use it for entertainment purposes

rather than utilizing it to do some productive or study related work. I know this because Its my

personal experience and I have seen other students doing the same, like as soon as they start to

do some assignment or homework and there is a cell phone nearby, they’ll reach out to it before

even opening the book and will get busy in browsing forgetting that they have homework to do.

Twitter, Facebook and other entertaining apps are quite the distractions these days, especially for

students.

I am not totally opposing the use of cell phones, why would I? It’s one of the

revolutionary technologies of our era. We should try to utilize this technology in more

productive ways. Here, I am just suggesting limiting the use of cell phones to an extent where the

usual routine of ours don’t get messed up. Too much of using a cell phone can get in a way of

things we surely don’t want to miss or can’t afford to miss, be it family get-together’s, dinners,

classroom lectures etc. Also there is a time for every single activity and using cell phones doesn’t

have to be included in each one of them. The current generation practically needs to understand

the importance of studies as it is the only way they can dream of a bright future.
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Work Cited

Cohen, Maya. “Cell phones at school: Should they be allowed?” life.familyeducation.com N.p.,

n.d. Web.

Krug, Nick. Photograph. ljworld.com N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2008.

Williams, Rachel. “Mobile phones drive increase in exam cheating” theguardian.com N.p., n.d.

Web. 03 Feb. 2010.

“35% of Teens Admit to Using Cell Phones to Cheat” commonsensemedia.org N.p., n.d. Web.

18 June. 2009.

“Should students be allowed to use cell phones in schools” debate.org N.p., n.d. Web.