>>Broward County has officially announced a cellphone ban across all schools in the area that will be in effect August 12, 2024, and the majority of students are opposing it. We demand that the school board reverses this decision. Read the full story here.

Phones are currently one if not, the most common form of communication, whether it be students chatting with other students or parents talking to their child. This is just common sense.

Not being allowed to use cellphones in class unless the teacher says so is understandable, but it is completely unnecessary to ban cellphones at lunch and in between classes, as we (the students) are not learning at those times and are mostly socializing (and also playing games) with our peers. Students may also be checking grades, finishing up some online schoolwork or contacting their parents.

Also unnecessary is the full headphone/earbud ban. Students listen to music at lunch or in between classes for personal reasons like calming down or just boredom in general. Headphones are also used for privacy, so other students can’t hear what they are listening to, whether it be a call, a YouTube video, etc. Besides, most students will make sure one ear is out so they hear important announcements.

In the end, this full ban on cellphones is very unnecessary. Some might reason that back in the 80’s or 90’s, there were no cellphones, but those eras were decades ago. The world and technology is changing and evolving and the school board just has to accept that.