Cell phones are an ongoing bone of contention in most school across the United States. Despite rules passed by Congress regarding the use of cell phones at school, there is no doubt that students just like grownups, cannot checking their smartphones (Strode & Strode, 2017) . When students show up at school with cell phones teachers are allowed by law to take these gargets. One of the reasons as to why Congress passed laws and regulation banning the use of cells phones by students in school is to try break addictions to phone and to help students focus on their school works. The other main reason for banning the use of cell phones in schools is to prevent students from cheating during examinations.
There are however many reasons as to why the U.S Congress needs to revisit this regulation. First, the regulation does not respect a student's privacy as teachers are allowed to confiscate a student’s cell phone( Kolb, 2011 ). In a one court case, school officials were reported to have taken a student’s phone after he was spotted texting. The court found the school administration had violated the student’s fourth amendment right by reading the text messages from the student’s phone. Although the school administration claimed to have been worried about the student’s drug use problem and suicidal thoughts, the court however still found the school guilty ( Espejo, 2014 ). According to the court, the school officials did not have to go through the student's phone for them to find evidence that the student might be abusing drugs once again.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In yet another 2014 case, teachers suspected students of smoking marijuana while in a school bus. These teachers then chose to go through the student’s cell phones. When the case was presented to the court, the teachers were found guilty of violating the student’s privacy (Lee, Kim, McDonough, Mendoza & Kim, 2017) . In her statement, the judge stated that she was unable to find any connection between marijuana and the cell phones that were confiscated.
The enactment of the cell phone education act by the U.S Congress may as well be considered a blanket ban. Judging from what has been seen in the past, blanket bans are never actually an effective way of fixing any behavioural problems human beings are facing. Unlike half a century ago, children of today are born in an environment whereby digital gadgets are a normal part of human life. From an education perspective, Congress act to ban cell phones in schools could certainly be an easy solution but not a necessary one (Kim, 2013) . This, therefore, creates another reason why there is a need for Congress to revisit its cell phone regulation act.
Instead of passing laws banning students from coming to school with cell phones, laws should be made to ensure students are taught how to live healthful, safe and responsible life with or without their cell phones and other devices. Through education, students are thought of how to live better lives while exercising self-control (Felisoni & Godoi, 2018) . The best way to do this is by allowing them to have their cell phones while at school.
As the world continues to develop, more and more electronic devices are introduced to the market. With new devices, comes abundant amounts of freedom. While there are many different technologies, cell phones are the most common of them and are used by people of all ages (Lee, 2013) . Since this is a great technology, its use should be encouraged in all settings including schools.
Reference
Felisoni, D., & Godoi, A. (2018). Cell phone usage and academic performance: An experiment. Computers & Education , 117 , 175-187. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2017.10.006
Kim, H. (2013). The Difference of Psychological Characteristics According to Cell Phone Dependency and Use Purpose in Cell Phone Users of Adolescences. Journal Of Fisheries And Marine Sciences Education , 25 (1), 87-101. doi: 10.13000/jfmse.2013.25.1.087
Kolb, L. (2011). Cell phones in the classroom: A practical guide for educators . Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.
In Espejo, R. (2014). Cell phones in schools .
Lee, C. (2013). Exploring the relationship between intention to use mobile phone as a visualization tool and regulation of cognition. Computers & Education , 60 (1), 138-147. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2012.08.003
Lee, S., Kim, M., McDonough, I., Mendoza, J., & Kim, M. (2017). The Effects of Cell Phone Use and Emotion-regulation Style on College Students' Learning. Applied Cognitive Psychology , 31 (3), 360-366. doi: 10.1002/acp.3323
Strode, Z., & Strode, A. (2017). CELL PHONE IMPACT ON USER HEALTH AND CELL PHONE USAGE HABITS AMONG ADULTS. SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION. Proceedings Of The International Scientific Conference , 3 , 418. doi: 10.17770/sie2017vol3.2419
