Primer: Personal devices
With the advent of the new school year, students across the nation once again find themselves confronting that eternally vexing question: “Can I use my phone during class?” After personal devices began proliferating in the 2000s, schools largely endowed teachers with the ability to set classroom policy about devices on a case-by-case basis. In recent years, however, district and state policymakers have begun enacting uniform regulations in response to the urgency of the issue. Should these policies, which have provoked both outrage and relief, exist?
According to the National Center for Education, 77 percent of American schools prohibited non-academic cellphone use during school hours in 2020. These regulations span over thirty states, including North Carolina, Colorado, California, and Indiana, and grade levels from elementary to high school. Schools have adopted varying degrees of stringency: some restrict student device usage in class but allow it during breaks; others ban device usage on campus during school hours; others forbid students from bringing cellphones to campus altogether.
At the university level, the power to regulate personal device usage is usually dispersed to departments or professors, though schools are reconsidering their approach due to rampant and unsanctioned AI use during class. The University of Chicago, for instance, recently banned electronic devices in Social Sciences distribution classes and first-year law school classes.
Proponents of the resolution view devices as a pernicious distraction in the classroom; in a 2024 Pew study, 72 percent of high school teachers said cellphone distraction was a major problem in class. Having devices in class also makes it easier for students to cheat on assessments and disengage from in-class learning, especially with the presence of generative AI. For a generation of youth with historically low attention spans and poor social awareness, banning personal devices at school may allow the classroom to return to what it has been for millennia: a crucible of knowledge, produced through sustained, collaborative thinking and untainted by the temptations of Instagram Reels.
Opponents of device bans, however, cite the myriad ways technology can benefit the learning process. From Google Classroom to Chromebooks, educational technology helps students—especially those who possess learning disabilities or come from less privileged backgrounds—to organize notes, keep track of assignments, and communicate with their teachers. Blanket enforcement of device bans may also be too difficult to warrant the legislative effort; at the end of the day, educators themselves have the final say in what is or isn’t allowed in their classrooms. Finally, banning devices in classrooms may simply be counterproductive in a world where students will need to know how to use technology safely and productively.
Come join our debate this Monday at 7pm in Scott Hall!
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