Earlier this year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to restrict smartphone use in schools. There is currently no policy enforced and schools are waiting for the New York government to make a decision. The plan, proposed to begin in the 2025-2026 school year, states that there will be, “No unsanctioned use of smartphones and other internet-enabled personal devices on school grounds in K-12 schools for the entire school day, including classroom time and other settings like lunch and study hall periods.” If the government makes the decision to ban devices for the entire school day, the school will need to figure out a plan based on these restrictions..

For Schreiber students, this would mean no cellphone use under any circumstances from 8:05 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. every day.  However, this wouldn’t be the only drastic change.  The restrictions on internet-enabled devices include personal computers, which many students use every day.  Essentially, this plan would make school-issued chromebooks the only acceptable form of internet access.

While this plan seems like it will fulfill its purpose of creating a distraction-free school at first glance, there are countless drawbacks that prove that this plan will not work for Schreiber.

For starters, limiting the use of technology in the classroom sets back educational resources.  Many teachers have implemented the use of educational software into their curriculums, and count on the use of personal devices to teach their classes.

In addition, restricting the use of personal devices during the school day will create unnecessary confusion for students, their families, and staff members.  For example, if a student needs to get in touch with a parent during the school day for any reason, there will be a long inconvenient process to do so, which would likely involve a visit to the office to send a simple message. 

Furthermore, should a teacher or coach need to get in touch with a student or vice versa, they will have no choice but to send an email and hope they happen to have their email open at that time. Applications such as SportsYou and Remind wouldn’t be as accessible.

Students would not be able to use their devices to do things they rely on them for every day, including using their calendars to keep track of important test dates or assignment due dates, getting notifications for upcoming appointments, viewing their schedules or grades, coordinating group projects, listening to music, texting a friend to plan where they want to eat lunch or spend an off period, and much more.

The worst part is, this process might not end at 3:05 p.m. as it should. One potential course of action for the state would require students to lock their devices in pouches at the beginning of the day, and keep them locked until the end of the day. With Schreiber’s large number of students, the locking and unlocking of phone pouches would take ages, clogging the main door, the only authorized entrance and exit in the building, making students late to class in the morning, and extending the school day for students and staff alike.

This proposed ban on personal technology in schools begs an important question: in today’s digital age, why are we setting back innovation by decades in our schools?