Concerns about safety, bullying, not being able to contact friends, lack of music, media censorship and struggling attention spans are increasing, while anxiety, loneliness, and boredom are becoming more apparent among our student body.
Contrary to popular belief, the takes among the student body are more nuanced than what most adults would expect.
Before we jump in, let’s briefly revisit past legislature.
The first enactment of a statewide cell phone ban during instructional time was passed in Florida in 2023.
Since them, 26 states have passed laws or policies requiring all local school districts to bam or limit cellphone use in K-12 classrooms.
A whopping 22 of these laws were enacted in 2025, the most recent established in Oregon through an executive order.
But why the sudden trend? Well, the answer lies in nationwide sentiments.
According to Pew Research center, today 74% of adults support banning cell phones during class in middle and high schools, up from 68% last fall. The belief that banning cellphones would positively impact students’ social skills, grades and behavior in class is the driving force. However, adults under 30 tend to be less likely than older people to say banning phones would positively impact students. For example, 26% of those ages 18 to 29 say a ban would improve students’ physical safety, compared with 42% of those 50 and older.There is a correlation between disapproval of the ban and age groups that grew up in the technological era and increased gun violence.
Worries about safety are also shared by our student body at Lake.
“I am generally anxious and paranoid person. There was one time last year a student was drawing some concerning pictures (people being hanged) to get evidence to report him,” I took a photo on my phone,” said senior Julia Kongthalath.
“I was scared of what he could have done if he was just drawing such violent things. I just don’t think I could do anything like that with the phone ban in place.”
Without phones, usage of the anonymous tips app provided by the district is void, increasing the difficulty of reporting safety concerns, which would most likely delay responses to active threats on campus or even diminish the amount of reports as a whole.
Censorship is another concern voiced by many especially in activities that require extensive research of “darker” topics.
A member of the debate team has voiced their frustrations with key themes used in debate events being blocked or flagged because they mentioned themes like sexual assault, suicide, and violence. Some important images are blocked or low quality. A huge inconvenience for assignments that require them.
The loss of phones renders key communication apps like Group Me and Slack useless as they are either blocked by the school Wi-Fi or inaccessible on districted mandated laptops, disrupting ease of communication during between students and teachers during massive events like blood drives.
One senior says she doesn’t foresee the ban fixing people being distracted during class.
“They will find other ways to not do their work which will be more disruptive to others,” said 12th grader Gabriela Westhelle. “It is next to impossible to do work during lunch because of how much louder it is, plus no headphones to stop the noise.”
The phone ban has been good for improving socialization within the student body with Falcons actually talking and even playing cards? Yes, cards! People were making conversation albeit difficult, but conversation nevertheless and laughing together as a group, Loving it!
However, the main grumbles come from phones being banned during lunch, which makes it harder for people to find friends or in some cases, get through the day.
“I think truthfully, the most they need to do is just ban phones during class periods,” said senior Michelle.
“Having phones during lunch wouldn’t be such a big deal since it’s not class time and people do want to know what’s going on outside of school,” said another Senior. “Like a few years ago, the announcement of queen Elizabeth’s death was during a school day.”
These frustrations are mirrored in our underclassmen who are particularly frustrated with the ban.
“I thought we’d get our phones in high school after not being able to use them in middle school. It’s frustrating since I feel like we never had a chance to experience that freedom,” said Freshman Zoe Feagins.
“I feel like the ban is useless,” said freshman Brooke Trevino. “Kids who refuse to do their work won’t work anyway.”
But getting real, it is fair to say, we are in a mental health crisis, and these issues don’t just disappear during school. Arguably, some of them originate on campus.
Social isolation is the evolved version of bullying that Gen Xers reminisce about. Begone is the shoving in the lockers, now we have something more sinister.
We’d wager many students have worries about being excluded, kicked out of friend groups, or abandoned. It’s a rite of passage that high school exasperates. The feeling that everyone is watching you pace down the hallways looking for someone to sit with is universal, but at least before, you were able to block it out with noise or pretend to scroll on your phone.
We don’t have that anymore, and honestly, we don’t foresee any mass social change where everyone includes all the kids who are struggling in silence or have no one to chat with. Especially, with kids no longer being allowed to eat in teacher’s classrooms.
It is noteworthy to mention that not all districts can afford to provide all their students with personal computers or have enough resources to maintain the ban. Hence, why many districts relied on the usage of phones in the classroom.
If this is the hill the state is dying on, then we hope they’re ready for the ride, because we think the consequences might be more than they anticipated.
In the end, Falcons do recognize why phones needed to be banned in classrooms; however, they agree the execution of the ban deserves critique
And that’s it for this issue of “What’s your take?” Stay tuned for more 😉