Phones should/shouldn’t be banned in schools
by Selina and Phyu Sin
The choice has been made. As the government has decided to ban phones in schools, many people have their own views on it. Some people are happy with the ban (against phones), some do not want the ban (for phones). Here are two views on this topic, for and against phones.
Phyu Sin: Argument against phones
When the words ‘phones in school’ pop up or are said, it is associated with distractions, cheating and not concentrating. As phones cannot be monitored by admins or teachers, there is more freedom upon what apps are on the phone.
If ‘do not disturb’ is off, (most likely off because of parent texts etc.) notifications bring up an instinct to be diverted to the phone and eventually spend more time on it. More time spent on the phone leads to less sleep or maybe even burnout on top of your other devices. This makes it significantly harder to concentrate in class after breaktime.
Selina: Counterargument for phones
When students bring phones to school, their intention is usually to play on it during break. Sure, phones are distracting. But aren’t the gaming websites advertising that they’re unblocked and purely made for students to get past their school monitoring system just as distracting?
When students cheat, they usually either look over another peer’s paper/laptop or they search it on their own laptop that they’re using to see the test. While there’s a lot of information showing or stating that phones or just devices in general mess up your ability to concentrate, I believe that it incredibly depends on the person. From what I’ve seen, a lot of students turn on their ‘do not disturb’ to prevent interrupting class with their notifications and if they don’t, can’t the teacher be able to remind them to?
Selina: Argument for phones
It’s a useful educational tool for those who don’t have things like school ipads or chromebooks. Also, when people have an emergency, they won’t need to walk all the way to the office for a phone call. There’s many benefits people have with bringing their phones to school like listening to music during lunch, taking photos of important notes or playing videogames with their friends during lunch. There are pros and cons about bringing phones to school, but I would say there’s more pros than cons.
Phyu Sin: Counterargument against phones
There’s a plethora of informative books at a place where you learn, like a school library, or the teacher book resources. Whatever is on the phone is on the computer but more of a learning device. Phones for emergencies are more convenient but it’s not like you can’t ask the teacher for their phone. There are many concepts of fun that are not device related and more social, and at this age people can do video calls at home while playing games. Some music sites are not blocked on the computer and you can use your airpods/headphones to listen to music, another alternative if you prefer listening during class.
These two arguments have their own reasons and points, but in the end phones have flaws and advantages. It can be used for many good reasons, but sometimes it affects our mental health. The phone ban is a very complex device that can make us express our opinions to the world and to everyone else.
Task Description: For writing, everyone in Team Tui made a piece about the recent ban on cellphones in school. We first had to decide if we were for or against, then buddy up with someone (optional) and create a piece of writing. I think I am for, but for this writing I took the against position. What is your opinion on this topic?