Are phones the issue or is it really technology overall?

With the new cell phone policy now in effect, Yondr Pouches have taken away cell phone use from all high school students across the county. 

The Yondr Pouches are the system used to remove the phone and its subsequent stream of media from the equation. But are they the best fit for H-B?

Sure the pouches are keeping the phones away during class, so in that sense they work. The pouches give a very traditional solution to the prevalent phone issues that face most American high schools. 

However, as one ninth grade student pointed out, “But when we got the pouches it felt very traditional and not H-B. It felt like H-B was trying to be like every other school instead of standing out as a different school.” She also pointed out that H-B is centered around student choice and involvement, none of which we had with the implementation of the pouches.

When I talked to Karly, the life science & AP Biology teacher, about if the phone pouches were the best solution she told me, “At H-B, it may have been more economical to have a two strike-pouch policy, in which students who have trouble managing time on their device must pouch it after a certain amount of warnings.” She had previously mentioned that from her observations that the pouches may not always be used by students but there was also no more need for teachers to micromanage phones like there had been previously.

Kathryn, the Latin and Spanish teacher, took a slightly different look to the pouches. She believes that it is a shame that it had to get to the point of needing the pouches. Though, she does agree that they are probably the best solution.

However, now that the phones are locked up in the Yondr Pouches, it seems like more and more the iPads and computers are an escape from actually doing work. back 

Though that may be from the lack of phones, as 9th grader Sydney put it, “The computers wouldn’t be that much of a distraction if we had our phones out. But kids are using their computers like phones because they lost access to their phones.”

Despite the pouches, it is clear that student online gaming continues–only now on computers and iPads instead of phones. This is in part why the middle schoolers do not have their iPads with them during lunch, though they still are an issue in the classrooms.

When asked about the school devices being an issue more than phones Kathryn put it like this, “To a certain extent, yes and no. It’s great to have them when you need them. However, I often see kids on the iPads or computers during class when they aren’t supposed to be.”

Karly focused on the fact that the premise of the iPads were a disaster for her classes. She made several points, such as the fact they are tied to a single user, which makes it much more of an issue when the iPads get inevitably lost.  Additionally, iPads do not well prepare students for computers of any form. She also pointed out the three main interfaces (Apple, Google, and Microsoft) that APS uses can cause compatibility issues and can generally be a pain to deal with. 

It seems like computers and iPads, have their upsides like being able to do school work when sick, collaboration, being able to access a plethora of information, but that they may also have significant downsides. While I don’t think that they are all internally bad, they cannot be placed in a halo; like all things they have their issues. At the end of the day I think they are an issue but not a simple solution.

In the question of phones being the issue or tech altogether, the answer is yes they both are an issue that is faced by today’s students and teachers. The pouches do help combat some concerns, but I think that there are better solutions. Though the pouches do work right now, that may be in part from the hawk-like observations from Graham to make sure the phones are locked up. Also, while the pouches work in a more traditional way, that may not be the best fit for H-B. , At some point there is a trade off when phones are banned and other technology is still permitted, and in this case, the trade off may be high enough to reconsider the pouch policy. Nevertheless, I think the causes of this roots deeper in the integration of technology into our society and I think in this case we are seeing some of the cost and benefits play out in real time.