Teenagers are addicted to their phones. When something you love that is a part of your everyday life is taken away from you, you don’t realize how much it has a hold over you.

In my first year of high school, we could have phones and freely use them when we wanted to. My second year, they started enforcing no phones during class. This year they activated the zero-tolerance policy: mobile phones, headphones, tables/iPads and more were to be off and out of sight unless directed otherwise.

It’s so natural to just grab your phone and send a text whenever, but when you can’t take your phone out, students will simply find a way around it. I t has only made students angrier and built a sort of hatred towards school. Students feel like more is being taken away from them and they have fewer freedoms as high schoolers.

High school is when you are supposed to gain more independence, start making decisions on your own and learn before going to college. Getting my phone taken is just taking me back to middle school. As a high schooler, I think students are responsible enough to know when to not use their phones.

I see how phones could distract students from learning and keep them from paying attention, but how are they going to learn how to be adults when they are being treated like a child? I have learned when to put my phone down and do my work, and part of that comes with age.

Students will consistently go on their phones and accept the consequences. Some teachers are more strict than others. In my different classes, students have gotten warnings, gotten it taken away for the day and some teachers just ignore it. Teachers shouldn’t have to be worrying about students being on their phones, they should just be focusing on teaching.

I don’t think the off and out of sight policy has had any positive impacts on students. Students have only built up resentment towards school. For instance, students have gotten in trouble for trying to order their lunch, but with the time we have for lunch, it’s faster to order ahead and make sure students make it back for their next class.

A student’s mom was calling. Could she answer in class? No. The student probably had so many thoughts because it’s uncommon for a student’s mom to be calling during the day— what if it was an emergency? Not many parents would think to call the office first, they would just go straight to the child.