On July 1, NC Governor Josh Stein signed House Bill 959 into law. This law “requires school districts to adopt policies prohibiting students from ‘using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on’ during instructional time. Our Board of Education is required to align the language of its existing policy with the state law by January 2026,” according to the Wake County Public School System.

This change is a huge adjustment for high school students. Due to Covid, students have adapted to electronics, particularly phones, being incorporated with their education. Electronics were all we had to communicate with others for such a long time. Now that’s all kids who went through this time are used to.

With how normalized phones are for not only teens, but people’s lives in general, people wonder if it’s really fair for the state to enforce schools to have a phone policy, and one as strict as this? Is the government overstepping its boundaries by signing this law? 

Learning is a choice. So is pulling out a phone and deciding to go on Instagram or TikTok. If a student truly wants to learn and be successful in school, they will put away their phones and work. 

By enforcing a rule to keep phones away at all times and being able to take them away for the day, students won’t be able to learn the skill of time management and being responsible.

If a student is allowed to have their phone while in class, they can learn responsibility by being responsible when they decide to complete their tasks and use their phone only after all assignments are complete. They can learn time management by managing how much time they spend on their classwork and how much on their phones.

Learning shouldn’t be forced on a student. Even without phones, students can still be unengaged and not learn. They can zone out or sleep, not paying attention. This is exactly why students should have their phones throughout the day.

Students have 4 classes a day, each an hour and a half. The school day is 6 hours and 53 minutes long. This means we spend 360 out of 413 minutes in class learning. The only extra time we get is a 30 minute lunch break and 23 minutes total for passing periods.

This leaves students absolutely no time to take a brain break and relax after all their stressful classes with piles of work and homework. Students can’t learn for all these hours straight. For their mental health, they need their phones to be able to stay sane and be successful.

If students cannot have their phones, then there should be a rule implemented that teachers shouldn’t have their phones either while teaching. Teachers chose to be here; it’s their career and job, and it’s what they chose to do with their lives. They get paid to be here. Students, on the other hand, are forced to come to school by law.

If someone who has no choice but to be here must not be able to use their phone, then someone who gets paid to be here shouldn’t have their phone while doing their job either.

Taking away the phones throughout the day also risks the safety of the students. With the world that we live in today, there is always the risk of something happening. Students not being allowed to have easy access to their phones will stop them from being able to call 911 if needed or to contact their parents and family.

Having no communication with others throughout the day can make kids feel isolated and alone. Being allowed to have their phones, students can stay connected and feel a stronger sense of belonging.