In an attempt to help students pay attention during class, The Texas Legislature passed HB1481, requiring districts to ban the use of wireless communication devices during the school day. 

The bill should be amended to only require districts to ban the use of the devices during class time and not the entire school day for students in grades 10 -12.

For better or for worse, the world is becoming ever more reliant on technology. Consequently, students have followed this trend. While some of this can end up being a distraction, some of this reliance on technology has benefits for the student. For example, employers can send a text to students asking if they can take an extra shift. Students within college courses through programs like OnRamps and Dual Credit can send and receive emails regarding changes to the courses, technical issues or potential academic dishonesty violations. Students may receive emails regarding potential opportunities for scholarships or from colleges. In some cases, these can be time sensitive. If students don’t respond, negative consequences can occur. To respond, the student might sneak their phone, also potentially resulting in consequences. It is a lose-lose situation with no way to win, all because a law fails to take into account the fact that technology still has uses for students other than being a distraction. 

School districts, and by extension district run students organizations, have also become more reliant on technology for communication, safety and educational uses. Social media, websites and apps like Remind are used to communicate with parents, students and anyone else interested. Services like Securly Pass keep track of students and companies like SmartPass keep students safe via virtual IDS, and services like Sora, Canvas and CapCut provide ways for students to check out books, submit assignments and make video presentations. These services can all be easily accessed through a cell phone, making it easy to access them without having to spend 4-5 minutes logging into a school issued device. A total ban during the school day makes accessing these outside of class time incredibly inconvenient for the student. 

People may say that giving students access to their phones when out of class may encourage them to use it within class. This is not true. Just because a student is given access to their phone out of class, does not mean they are automatically going to want to use their phone in class. Most, if not all, grade 10-12 students have the basic self-control to know when to put their phones away. For the extremely small number of students who don’t, they will be reprimanded as the law requires districts to implement a way for students who violate the law to be punished. The benefits of allowing students to access cell phones outside of class far outweigh the small, highly unlikely, distraction caused by one student using their phone during class and immediately receiving a reprimand for it.

This law, while made with good intentions, fails to take into account the simple fact that students have some good reasons to be on their own devices. An easy way to keep cell phones from being a distraction within the classroom is to simply keep them banned within the classroom, but allow them outside of the classroom in between classes or during lunch. The idea of keeping the classroom learning environment distraction free is great, but if there is a way to keep the classroom distraction free, while still allowing students to reply to potentially time sensitive messages, it needs to be implemented.