With the excitement of a new school year, many new changes have come to the EGR High School. One of the most controversial new rules is the phone policy. Every teacher is now required to have a phone chart and make students put their phones in it. But is this really necessary for every class? We all know that allowing phones in schools is a very debated topic, but there are plenty of reasonable arguments for why we should have them.

Phones can be used as educational tools. I can’t be the only one who finds it much quicker and more convenient to access information on my phone rather than my computer. Phones allow us to quickly look up definitions, facts, or explanations during lessons.

Another crucial reason why we teenagers should have access to our phones in school is for emergencies. If we need to contact our parents, or if something happens where we are in danger, we should have our phones. Ask yourself, how long does it take you to grab your phone out of that phone chart? 30 seconds may seem like a short amount of time, but when it comes to dangerous and scary situations, you need your phone immediately. Phones are vital for contacting help or staying informed during lock downs or natural disasters. Or even if it’s just an illness, we teens don’t want to have to walk up to the front of the room and ask permission to text our parents.

Our phones can help with time management and organization as well. We can take quick notes and make reminders in less than a minute, so we don’t forget to later on. With 6 classes a day, it can be hard to keep track of everything and what we have for homework on a daily basis. I can recall a couple of times when I have missed a small homework assignment due to forgetting to write it in my notes because my phone or computer was not accessible. Lastly, I would like to point out that it’s the 21st Century. Students having their phones in schools can help build digital skills, which are essential for all of our future careers. Technology isn’t going away, so we should learn to work with it and live with it, not diminish it.