The world has become a global village, with technology dominating people’s lives, especially among millennials. The controversy about whether or not mobile phones should be allowed in high school is raging, with both positive and negative consequences for teenagers. Despite the benefits of using a cell phone in high school, the disadvantages seem to outweigh the benefits. As a result, it is the government’s responsibility to establish guiding rules and regulations about the use of cellphones in high school, with parents and teachers responsible for ensuring that students adhere to the guidelines, failing which discipline should be imposed. The use of mobile phones in high school should not be allowed because they interfere with proper concentration and learning. They lead to distractions in the classroom during the learning process, because of extended use of phones at any time during the lessons continuation. Most students are irresponsible and use their mobile phones recklessly even before break times. Students miss a lot of what the teacher has taught during the lesson, which is one reason for poor performance. Mobile phones have motivated laziness among students from doing thorough revision hence the increased cheating levels in the examination rooms (John & Coffey 43). Failure to revision before the examination period raises the reluctance of many students and thus they are caught unawares where they opt to google for answers as the tests proceeds. They eventually get nothing and spend time in school not to acquire the relevant skills but to complete their learning course.
Mobile phones are a source of evils and immorality in the school where students build up groups in which they engage in dangerous behaviors. It is one platform that instills terrible morals and peer pressure, for example, committing adultery at a young age. The media has contributed to school dropouts and early pregnancies in the school going students (Engel, George & Tim Green 39). Use of phones, however, has also led to drug abuse and poor habits as the young people try to emulate the behaviors of the celebrities. It has encouraged the negative attitudes towards education among students where they don’t regard the role of education in their life progress, and to them, it is not the way out for a bright future. Its more usage has increased the ignorance of privacy at school and in the society as a whole, where students don’t know what is confidential and personal. It drifts their minds during the coursework by imputing their time and efforts on unnecessary things.
There is an increase in depression and suicidal intentions among young people in high school due to wrong interpretation of things they access on the media forums through their mobile phones. Poor management tendencies have led to students’ exposure to stress brought about by break-ups on the phone via text messages and phone calls. High schools students like to seek attention from others and want approval from their colleagues for their good looks. Keeping up with the trend and entertainment is a priority, and they end up becoming hurt when someone, especially a person they love would text them a dislike message (Engel, George & Tim Green 39). Their survival and happiness lie around other people’s take on them, failure to which they become annoyed and think of committing suicide. Students are happy when everyone else around them recognizes their presence and their positive side. They want to be nurtured, loved and cared for, and would hence act out of the ordinary just to appear reasonable to others. They want to please their boyfriends and girlfriends through text messages and replies on time where one is mad at the other person because of late text reply.
Students in school have become phone fanatics, which is one of the reasons for poor performance in class. Prolonged usage of phones is a habit that drifts students’ attention and alertness. Most of them spend their time checking for online updates in WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other media platforms. It results in wastage of time on the media forums, as they have to keep up with what’s trending around the globe (John & Coffey 45). They focus and value posting their status quo to share with others about what’s happening in their lives, the reason for inadequate time to do some school work during their free time. Phone calls can disrupt other students’ learning when some phones are ringing in the classroom where they have to get out and receive it. Student’s spread information through their phones in class, and this can discourage others when they have no information about what is happening. They use mobile phones in the wrong way through passing wrong texts and photos, and making gossip that make others the laughing stock in the school. It subjects the concerned students to shame and lack of concentration where most may end up missing classes and even worse drop out of school due to such reasons.
On the other hand, use of phones has a positive impact on students in high school. They are essential for safety purposes where one can access the phone to make a call back home to reach out to someone when in danger. In case something is wrong, one can contact someone at any time to seek for help when things are not running as expected. Many students call their parents when something interferes with their lateness to get home, which could be as a result of a technical problems or other activities in school. It is essential because parents can wait home peacefully because they are aware of their kids’ whereabouts and the reason for their lateness. The technology gadgets are effective for use during emergencies to get a quick response from parents or the closest and available people. It is necessary as it helps avoid accidents that could have occurred as a result of a late response. Most parents use mobile trackers to follow up on their children’s location when they are not aware of their whereabouts (Bethany & Fletcher 161). Mobile gadgets can help parents know whether their kids are in the wrong places or engaging in the illegal acts, hence prevent further damage that could come as a result.
Cell phones are efficient research tools in group discussions and completing the given assignments in class. They offer a wide variety of information from different websites where one can acquire more skills and knowledge in doing a given task (Bethany & Fletcher 170). Learning more assist students to acquire diverse experience, necessary for its application in the daily activities in class and other social events. They enable students to read and do personal studies when they have no access to the library or the needed learning materials. It makes their work easy because one can obtain the required information on the internet at any given time and any place.
A student can reach out to their parents in case they left a critical tool needed for learning in the coursework. Contacting a parent can help reduce time wastage because they can bring the required stuff in the school instead of a student going back home for it. It thus reduces the chances of unnecessary movements of students in and out of school unless it is inevitable. However, some students who do not use the school bus means of transport can contact their parents after school or when they are late to pick them after classes (Bethany & Fletcher 175). It helps to avoid students from getting confused and stuck around the school as they can reach out to people to get precise information on their next move.
Parenting should involve control and guidance on their children’s habits on mobile phones to ensure a proper upbringing and good behavior at school. The society has a prominent role to play to ensure that the next generation is composed of responsible members and leaders who will act as role models in the community. Moreover, use of phones for a very long period is linked with adverse health problems like cancer and heart diseases, the reason as to why the behavior should be dictated. Therefore, cell phones should be banned entirely, or there should be stringent rules and guidelines that all students must obey during their period in high school.
Work cited
Blair, Bethany L., and Anne C. Fletcher. ““The only 13-year-old on planet earth without a cellphone”: Meanings of cell phones in early adolescents’ everyday lives.” Journal ofAdolescent Research 26.2 (2011): 155-177.
Engel, George, and Tim Green. “Cell Phones in the classroom: Are we Dialing upDisaster?.” TechTrends 55.2 (2011): 39.
Obringer, S. John, and Kent Coffey. “Cell phones in American high schools: A nationalsurvey.” Journal of Technology Studies 33.1 (2007): 41-47.
