On March 3 our school will be implementing the phone ban, required by LAUSD’s new phone policy. This policy was created because of the Phone-Free School Act, a law signed by California Governor, Gavin Newsom. This law requires every Californian school district to come up with a policy that limits or prohibits the use of smartphones.
LAUSD’s policy requires that all phones and personal devices— including smart watches, earbuds/headphones and smart glasses— be powered off and put away during the school day. The district is letting schools decide how devices will be stored away, via a pouch or locked in a locker.
HPHS has decided to use the pouch method, specifically a Yondr Pouch, which can be locked and unlocked with a magnet. At HPHS all Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) will be prohibited from use during school hours. In other words, from the start of school to dismissal (8:30 – 3:23) PEDs will be locked in the Yondr pouch.
This past week various student’s have already been given their pouches to hold on to until the official start date of the ban. The impending day has others and myself sharing their thoughts on the ban.
The most prominent opinion being whether or not students are addicted to their electronics.
“Unfortunately most students are so addicted to the phone they forget to socialize” said Mr. Castillo
Many teachers believe that today many teenagers have actual addiction to their phones, including Mr. Castillo— a computer science teacher at HPHS. And technically they are right.
The textbook definition of an addiction is “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.” Scientifically people don’t get addicted to drug themselves, but to a hormone in our brain called dopamine.
Our brains naturally release this hormone which allows us to feel pleasure, happiness, and other good feelings. With drug use, the brain releases dopamine a lot more than it naturally should be released when doing something we enjoy.
Guess what else gives us dopamine? Ding Ding Ding, our phones! While our mobile devices don’t affect our brain internally like drugs, they do work similarly. This is because our body sees dopamine as a reward after completing something.
Our phones allow us to complete an endless amount of tasks with a few clicks of a button. So while the small dopamine hit from the phone is normal it can— and has for many people— lead to an addiction to the hormone.
Some will argue this is all the more reason for the phone ban to take effect, after all addictions are bad. And I agree this ban can be beneficial for students and the school, but that doesn’t mean this ban is a good idea.
If we look at the phone usage problem from an addiction standpoint, this ban is essentially forcing hundreds of students to go cold turkey withdrawal from their “substance”.
And while this is a method that works and is used to get clean from addictions, it only works because the person isn’t relapsing everyday once the ban on their addiction is over.
Essentially this makes the ban moot, considering the reason behind it is to help students focus in class. Instead, this ban will essentially have students in withdrawal until their next hit (the dismissal bell).
And it is pretty well known that withdrawal is a pretty uncomfortable and distracting thing to experience with some symptoms being mental confusion, anxiety, irritability, and more.
Moving away from the addiction aspect, another thing this ban has spartans thinking is how this ban will affect school life.
“There might be an increase in students getting involved with lunch events as well.” states Giovanni
Senior, Giovanni Tellez explains that no phone usage will potentially lead to an increase in interactions between all students from each grade.
Mr. Castillo’s answer wasn’t much different, he mentions how he believes students will be more proactive and will look for something else to do instead of being on their phones. Mr. Castillo explains his knowledge about the school creating more lunch activities for student engagement.
“Students will socialize a little bit more” states Mr. Castillo
He also explains how he believes clubs will begin to acquire new members, especially clubs like robotics and the culinary club.
When asked about the pros and cons of the ban Giovanni shares how he believes the ban will cause less distractions in classes which can help with learning and participation.
“However some cons can be students being more agitated with social media.” Giovanni says.
Giovanni explains that the ban might cause students to be more irritable which may lead to physical altercations between students.
When asked about his opinion on this Mr. Castillo explains that he believes if there is a spike in fights on campus, then those encounters should decrease back to the regular amount once students acclimate to not using their phones.
A con Mr. Castillo believes might occur from this ban are new challenges for students in classes that require the use of a phone.
“If you’re gonna do any type of filming you’ll no longer be able to do that unless you have filming equipment.” says Castillo.
He goes on to explain that many classes like Graphic Design use phones to complete projects and assignments and that this ban will add an obstacle for those students.
Ultimately there are many thoughts and beliefs about this new phone ban, but one thing that almost everyone can agree on is this ban will definitely lead to huge changes on campus.
Written By: Samantha Rivas, Staff Writer