For many students, all it takes is a single vibration from a phone to have their attention disrupted. Phones are a part of daily life, and because of this, these distractions are the norm for high schoolers in the 21st century. Phone usage has become a controversy in schools with educators seeing it more of an addiction than a simple habit that’s meant to cure someone’s boredom.
According to Paul Thompson, a teacher who has been working at Argo for over two decades and teaches psychology, phones are designed to keep people hooked on them.
“They compared it to like actual drug usage because it feeds along our addictive neural pathways,” said Thompson.
While phones are addictive in design, the usage of them in classrooms is becoming a more mainstream problem. Throughout the world, schools are attempting to cut back on the usage of phones in classes to get students to start paying attention again.
“Greece, today (April 8, 2026), just said they’re going to ban social media for kids under 15. Britain as a whole has banned cell phones from schools. The state could say no cell phones for students inside the building or during the school day,” said Thompson.
Even though phone usage in schools is an issue that’s currently trying to be dealt with for the future, it doesn’t help the teachers who are constantly trying to redirect students to participate.
While some educators see phones as something that has to be banned, students have a different perspective on the situation.
“I feel like by banning phones, schools don’t really prepare us for college as much. While allowing them may cause distractions, it also forces us to hold ourselves accountable,” said Ashley Martinez, a senior at Argo.
Stricter phone rules may not be popular at first with students when they’re implemented, but some believe that these rules will end up being beneficial for students.
“At the end of the day, I think they’re going to realize how much more time they have to actually have relationships in the moment and learn,” said Robert Markatos, a teacher at Argo.
While educators may see stricter phone rules as a solution to the ongoing issue with the usage of phones in classrooms, students believe otherwise.
“If we end up banning phones in schools, it becomes much harder to contact someone if there’s an emergency or something happens at school,” said Martinez.
Phone addiction may not only occur in the classroom, but the use of phones inside the class has made it harder for teachers to do their jobs.
“Your job here is to learn, and it’s hard to learn when you’re not fully engaged with the material or the instructor,” said Thompson.
