Dear Governor Abbott, I am not of age to vote yet but my parents are supporters of you. I have a few concerns about the house bill 1481 that you just signed off on. I understand that children' s engagement in schools today is your concern. I also understand that children's safety and wellbeing is also a concern. Students aren't succeeding in schools today though because classes aren't engaging and there is a lack of teachers in the schools. The few teachers we have in the school aren't doing any real teaching there, spitting information at us to get us to barely pass their test. Students don't do any hands-on learning either; the assignments students do get aren't interactive and aren't engaging. The students with permanent subs, like myself, are using phones just to understand the work that is being assigned in the classes. Simply because the substitute teachers are not real teachers. They’re little more than glorified babysitters, there to make sure we watch the youtube videos with the assignments. Schools are much more dangerous than they were back in the 80s/90s there are more school shootings and threats and when those things happen the only way parents know what's happening in the schools is because of the students and when these situations happen the students are the ones who can reach out to authorities to get help. In 2024 alone there were 40 incidents in the U.S. 18 facilities and 59 injuries and the highest number of incidents happened in Texas. And over the last 5 years there have been 794 shootings. That number is higher than the last 15 years combined with 135 more shootings. With these numbers, students should always have a way to get in contact with people outside of the school on their own if needed. Taking away the electronics makes the schools even more dangerous than they are now seeing how schools have gates set up so students can't get out easily if a real emergency occurs. For most of us, both of our parents work and there are a few opportunities to get in contact with them and when situations arise from a personal standpoint, there are points where I can only text my parents and be able to get a response. I have had things that happen throughout my day when I need to reach them like; scheduling issues, personal things, and physical issues that happen. There are many situations that would be concerning an emergency for me but isn't necessarily considered an emergency to the office, and they may or may not let me call my parents. As it is, my parents will bring things for me that I need immediately, and I may or may not get it in a timely manner. If the office allows students to call home, students have very small windows to call parents and there would be many students trying with the few phones they have. It seems to me that the statement that cell phones and screen time negatively impact the mental health of young people is being used as a smokescreen to distract from the real problems in the schools. The national library of medicine says “Studies to date reports growing evidence of the detrimental impact of these technologies on sleep, although the specific relationship with mental health remains to be fully understood” where phones are concerned. they mostly only affect children's sleep schedules, but they have no real evidence of affecting students' mental health. The real problems being the bullying problem in the schools and the lack of decent education in the school. If the legislation wants students to be more engaged and support their academic success. then they should fix the education system instead of setting children up for failure. The world is moving towards electronics so you shouldn't be pulling students away from them you should be teaching students how to use them and teaching them how to survive in the world because with how the education system is set up now when students graduate there being thrown into the deep to learn how to swim by themselves when we're not even taught how to float on our own.

The new personal electronic law is dangerous, half-witted, and short-sided. As the world increasingly rellies on electronics for business and daily life, schools should teach students to use them responsibly rather than restrict access altogether.This ban has also effectively stripped students of any form of contact for safety with the outside world, should something happen. In a world where the government cares more about political grandstanding than students, and refuses to protect us, we should at least be given the right to protect ourselves. If you agree, please, sign this petition to repeal the new ban