Starting this school year, a state law requires all public schools in New York to ban cell phones during class hours. Although the law has generated controversy, the switch wasn’t that big a deal for students at BRHS, as the school has never allowed phones in the classroom. The state ban did require some adjustments at BRHS, however, because along with phones, the law also forbids other devices, including headphones, earbuds, Nintendo switches and PlayStations.

As people continue to debate the merits of the ban, staff writers Zoe Reyes and Aryana Segarra share their different perspectives.

Zoe: Banning phones should be a norm for all schools. I’ve been to schools with phone bans and without, and just by looking at my own transcripts I can tell which years I had access to my phone and which years I didn’t. After phones were officially banned in my middle school, when I was in eighth grade, I recognized I no longer had an excuse to neglect my schoolwork and my GPA rose significantly. Since then, I have attended Bronx River where I’ve maintained a steady average without phones as well.

Aryana: Students should be allowed to have their phones during class because in case of an emergency, students would have access to calling their parents. When I was in sixth grade in my middle school during lunch, my school experienced a soft lockdown because an eighth grader had a knife in the hallway; we had to be sheltered in the kitchen in the back to avoid being in contact with the student. During this time, I had no access to my phone because we had to leave our stuff on our seats when we went to the kitchen.

After the situation ended, I called my mom crying about the incident and since then everyday when I give in my phone, I fear that it could be the last time I see my parents face to face.

Zoe: While I understand wanting your phone to contact your parents, it’s proven to be a lot more harmful than beneficial in emergency situations. Imagine if everyone had their phones during an emergency where it needs to be silent, and alarms accidentally go off which alerts your position. If I were a parent, I’d prefer to wait a few more minutes to hear from my child if it guaranteed my child’s safety. Maybe being able to dial the police would be a benefit, but there are adults in the room with access to do so.

Aryana: But what if a parent can’t wait till their kids get out of school? Some parents are very overprotective and need to know where their kids are.

Zoe: If students are at school, they’ll have their phones taken during school hours and their phones would be held within the school. Their location will still show them to be at school, so parents would know where their kids are. Otherwise, when have phones ever truly been used for beneficial purposes by students? Personally, if social media access was offered to me during school hours, I’d have a much harder time focusing on what I actually have to do. During middle school, I used to play games during all my math classes. That affects me to this day because I’m not as good at math as all my classmates; honestly I wasn’t good at math anyway but I could’ve at least knew better if I paid attention in middle school.

Aryana: I was also bad at math and with my phone I can can use tutoring apps that can help get your grades up during class when the teacher is busy helping someone else, or during lunch when students can study with their phone.

Zoe: Can you really trust that students will only use their phones during lunch? If that’s the case, why don’t students use the laptops provided by schools during lunchtime to use these “tutoring” apps? If students wanted to study, a phone ban wouldn’t stop them from doing so. There is still technology offered within the school, actual professional teachers and other resources. Either way to me, studying is an afterschool activity where I wouldn’t rely on my phone anyway.

Aryana: Have you ever tried to ask to call your parents in the office and the staff are busy or out to lunch? This is another reason why phones shouldn’t be banned at school because as you may know, teachers and staff need their breaks as well.

Zoe: Well, that’s never really been a problem in BRHS. If you can’t use the main office phone, you can use your counselor’s phone; if that’s not available you can use another counselor’s phone; if that’s not available you can go to 400 and so on. I’ve used the phones in the school before; there’s multiple on every floor. While I know this doesn’t apply to every school, it certainly isn’t an issue here. Phones are so integrated into everyday life, I’d be shocked if any modern school didn’t have phones to be used within school. I definitely prefer this method of dialing phone numbers for emergencies, because it restricts the usage of social media during school hours while also making communication accessible.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.