This semester many teachers are implementing “Phone Stations”, where students are required to place their cell phones into designated spots on the wall at the start of the class period. Teachers have their reasons for the new policy, but is it really logical for high school students?

As high schoolers get closer and closer to entering their adult years and college experience, they also get closer to having to make their own decisions and learn independence/responsibility themselves. In college, students won’t have their professors or parents to take away their phones when they are unfocused. If they choose to scroll through TikTok during a lecture rather than take notes, they will face their own consequences. That’s how we learn responsibility and self-productivity. 

The argument most teachers are using for the new rule follows a one-sided scientific study of teens struggling with phone addictions, and how that negatively affects their learning experience. What these teachers fail to realize is the other side of science, that some teens greatly benefit from cell phone usage during school. According to scienceanditeracy.org, “On a broader scope, the benefits of classroom music include: boosting early childhood brain development, promoting brain plasticity, stimulating the left and right side of the brain, and engaging whole body learning,”. Music during lectures or while working on assignments promotes focus and relaxing tendencies in students. 

Having phones during school hours is also for safety. During fire drills or lockdowns, it is important to have phones in case of emergency contacts. In addition, it’s our personal device. Even if some choose to ignore lectures and work, they will eventually learn responsibility and self-control when they see their behavior reflected in their work/scores.