“You’re putting our phones in pouches!?!” Salima Ceesay ’26 exclaimed. 

Not yet….

The phone policy at HS223 is of concern for some students. Some teachers are collecting phones, while others are allowing phones in their classrooms. 

“I think it’s unfair for teachers specifically because many freshmen and sophomore students refuse to hand in their phones.” says Naveena Alauddin ’26.

Brianna Morales ’25 sees it a little bit differently.

She says: “I feel like it’s controversial in the school because some people have different feelings about it. I feel like collecting phones is good if you need to focus.”

But why are teachers collecting phones anyway?

“We saw an increase post-COVID on remote learning and how much time during the day many kids spent on their phones,” said Assistant Principal Ashley Downs. “Many students are trying to multitask to where they think they can be doing two things at the same time and there is a lot of information that says that we know no ones brain can multitask and you can only focus on one thing at a time.”

Many students disagree with taking phones away during class time. Freddy Rosario ’26 says, “It’s not fully enforced in the school. Some teachers try to implement it, but others don’t, so it depends on who’s enforcing it.”

But students have to understand, said Ms. Hernandez 9th grade teacher, that we are in school and have to know how to control ourselves to learn how to use phones. 

“It does get difficult because I can tell that they aren’t either listening to what I am saying or engaging in whatever they are doing at that time,” said Ms. Hernandez. “So I do feel like that they are wasting time on their phones”.

Ms. Hernandez also says, “Usually these kids that are on their phones are kids that do it a lot or do it often, so they are students that I have to tell multiple times to put their phones multiple times away, which is not fun, so it does get reparative for some students.”

“Their job is to educate, and when students don’t follow guidelines, it makes their jobs more difficult.”

“We have become addicted to our phones,” says Naveena Alauddin. “They offer various forms of entertainment, like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube, which keep people engaged and glued to their phones” 

It’s a struggle to keep students away from being on their phones, especially when there is a lot of social media around us that can distract us in a few seconds without realizing how much these apps are distracting us from school. 

But overall students do not understand what being in school and being outside of school, which means students are not getting how much time they are spending on their cell phones and how much teachers are trying to help them with their education. How are teachers supposed to do that when students are stuck to their phones all day? 

“Their job is to educate, and when students don’t follow guidelines, it makes their jobs more difficult.” 

In the end, students are not still getting it, and teachers are still struggling with students every day with phones. 

Students should understand that teachers are just trying to educate them. But also the struggles of everyday phone usage as well.