Lifeline or distraction? Shooting reignites debate over phones in schools
Cellphones are not only a distraction in class, they can also be a distraction during an emergency, when survival may depend on split-second decisions, experts say.
As shots rang out Wednesday morning at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, terrified students pulled out their cellphones. Through frantic texts that they feared would be their final messages, they told their families that they could hear gunshots, that they were scared and that they loved them.
Screenshots of their texts circulated on social media after the shooting, which killed two students and two teachers and injured nine other people. The texts have reignited a long-running debate: Should schools allow cellphones, which can be a major distraction in class but a lifeline during emergencies?
There is clear research showing the detriments of smartphones, particularly to adolescents. The phones and their addictive social media platforms have been tied to poor sleep, cyberbullying and unhealthy body esteem in young people. A 2023 study by technology and media research group Common Sense Media found that adolescents are overwhelmed with notifications from their smartphones — receiving a median of 237 alerts daily, with about a quarter arriving during the school day.
At least 13 states have passed laws or put policies in place that ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones in schools statewide, or recommend that local districts enact their own restrictions, according to Education Week. Individual school districts, both large and small, have also implemented policies that limit or prohibit cellphone use, with a growing number relying on magnetically sealed pouches to lock up the devices so students aren’t tempted to check them when they should be learning.
Being able to get in touch if there’s an emergency is the top reason parents say they want their children to have access to phones at school, according to a National Parents Union survey conducted in February of more than 1,500 parents of K-12 public school students.
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