Countless students from schools across Southern California have more than likely heard a teacher mention that in the following semester, schools will be changed forever. As of 2024, iPhones will be banned anywhere on campus; this includes in the classroom and outside during lunch. No excuses. However, this is not yet a guarantee for CNUSD, as the decision is still being discussed. On the other hand, in school districts such as LAUSD, the bill has already been assured and will be put into order next semester. ABC 7 summarized the bill, ”Los Angeles Unified School District passed a resolution two months ago to create a comprehensive cellphone policy to take effect by January 2025.”

Considering I am a student of the CNUSD school district, I will be experiencing a set of strict rules for phones in Santiago. CNUSD’s regulations are to keep iPhones away during class, but the teacher decides that rule. If you are caught using it, you receive an initial warning. After a warning or two, depending on the teacher, you are eligible for a detention, a phone call to parents, or a Saturday school. This situation can get increasingly worse and may eventually lead to CNUSD’s board discussing that they want to ban iPhones by next semester.

While the situation in CNUSD is still uncertain, LAUSD has already made a definitive decision. The students are outraged. “On a student level, it feels like a very big unilateral decision,” Ramirez says. “We had no say in it whatsoever. Obviously, because we’re the ‘problem,’ they wouldn’t ask us our opinion on it or to vote on it, but that feels wrong to do because you’re taking away our property.” Students don’t like this newly implemented rule, but what was the reason why this was made in the first place? “Cell phone use in schools has gotten out of control,” said Board President Goldberg. “It’s gotten to the point that students don’t talk face to face but instead text one another when they’re sitting right next to each other! I joined forces with Board Members Melvoin and Ortiz Franklin to sponsor this resolution because research tells us what we already know: excessive cell phone use impacts students’ mental health and academic performance. It’s time to update our policy and make it a district-wide responsibility.”

I would slightly agree that phones ruin our academic performance because they distract us in class, but wouldn’t you think that students who experience cell phone usage in school should vote on this? Students should speak for students. These members who decide the rules for us have no idea what it’s like to be around students who use their cell phones or be students in this period where everything is online. We use it in class daily, and many teachers need it to take pictures for assignments or go to valuable websites that are blocked. Sometimes, students need their phones as hotspots for their computers because the school wi-fi is down. Our school spent so much time perfecting and creating Minga to work for things as simple as bathroom passes. These board members have never experienced these issues and have no idea how critical phones are to students in school. Phones help in class; simply removing them suddenly will cause distress on campus.

School is continuously changing with new technology. It will stunt the growth of education without them. They have become a part of a student’s everyday life and are something you can’t take away. Numerous schools that are committing to this aren’t helping either. These schools are not making the right move.