Many school districts across America have resulted in implementing a no phone policy. Some schools use Yonder pouches, which are bags that lock up a student’s phone, and they cannot be unlocked until the end of the day. In Topeka, the 501 school district has implemented a phone ban where students are not allowed to use their phones throughout the day. With this in mind, should phones be banned?

Phones have lots of advantages. To start, students need to be able to communicate with their parents if there is an emergency. If it is an emergency, it needs to be handled immediately and students need to know what is going on. To continue, it can improve students’ technology skills. Technology is heavily used in the classroom, for example, Chromebooks and the attendance system. Being able to understand how to work technology can lead to easier communication and easier access to information. Finally, phones can help students submit assignments, keep track of tasks, and more. Canvas and Google classroom, the two main classroom apps, can be downloaded on mobile devices. This can help students submit assignments easier.

On the other hand, phones can be a major distraction for students. With social media apps being very popular, students spend a lot of time on them and can miss crucial information in class. With AI on the rise, many students are using it to complete their assignments for them, which is considered cheating and is against the rules.

The AI problem can be stopped with AI detecting websites, like Turnitin for example, to check for possible AI use. 

Currently, phones are not banned at Washburn Rural, and they should continue to stay unbanned. Due to how easy phones can make things, it would benefit the students if we kept them.