When was the last time you didn’t bring your phone to school? Students have been bringing their phones to school and using them at appropriate times since getting their first one, but with South Carolina’s new cell phone policy, are they going to be able to?
Recently the state of South Carolina adopted a new law that restricts students’ use of cell phones on school grounds. The policy, effective at the beginning of 2025, mandates that all South Carolinian schools make sure their students have their phones powered off and stored away during school hours. This policy aims to enhance student learning and focus less on distractions, but the safety, academic needs, and advisory of staff need to be thoroughly thought out before the law gets implemented.
Schools pride themselves on the safety of their students, however, the new phone policy says otherwise. With the policy in place, the communication factor between students and their guardians is impeded. Rice Business explains that student’s phones offer safety to them due to the emergency contact information it provides. In order for this ban policy to work, schools need to implement an alternative way for students to contact their guardians in emergency situations.
However, some teachers require that students use websites that Chromebooks have blocked, so teachers would grant students access to their phones, so the assignment could be completed. The policy states that the restriction of phones will help students’ education, but they haven’t thought about the unnecessary website bans the Chromebooks implemented that limit the amount of resources given to a student. Schools would have to find a way to limit distractions in the classroom while also letting students gain the information they need to continue their education further.
In order for this policy to fully work, teachers and staff are going to have to enforce these new rules constantly. In the beginning, students won’t even realize that they’re breaking the rules since they’re so used to being able to use their phones when outside of class. Since the policy is strict about all schools enforcing it amongst students, teachers taking phones and giving students detention just takes more learning time away from them, which is the opposite of what they want to achieve.
Schneideit Blogs explains how restricting phones could also be a good thing. Without distractions in the classrooms, there would be a drastic change in mindfulness and academic capabilities. Time management with turning in assignments would be on point due to students staying focused on what’s in front of them in a classroom setting and not on an online one. Removing phones from the classroom would also help teachers understand what a student is struggling with. Some students tend to cheat on assignments and tests when they have their phones which gives their teacher the understanding that everyone is on track with the work they’re assigning, so without that distraction, teachers understand their students better.
So even though losing the phones inside a classroom could be a good thing, it also creates a bigger distraction with enforcing it all the time. There needs to be a compromise in the policy that lets students have their phones out at certain times, or with teachers permission.