Being a quarter of the way through the year, the impact of the Bell to Bell, No Cell Act that became law at the start of the school year, has truly started to show. This legislation outlined the acceptable and unacceptable uses of personal electronic devices in Arkansas schools. 

It states the rules of implementation for the schools to follow, as well as consequences for schools that do not adopt or enforce this legislation. Our school has been on top of following the law as best as possible. Students still try to sneak peeks at their phones, but teachers have been vigilant in their enforcement of the law. 

Making the adjustment took time, but now our attention and social skills have improved. These skills have helped with our learning ability; however, anytime students have downtime, the temptation to get on their phones increases. 

Phones are an addiction and can hurt students’ mental health. We tend to scroll and find people to compare ourselves to. Finding what we think our flaws are creates insecurities that social media apps encourage because it keeps users invested. Distancing students from those online communities that are harmful towards our minds has improved the overall quality of our mental well-being. 

Attention spans have grown for many students with the new policy. From all the social media use over the years, we have noticed that our ability to stay focused on one task for long periods of time is becoming scarce. Not having any opportunities at all to go on our phones was definitely a very demanding adjustment but class times have started to feel shorter because our attention spans have increased. 

Socially, lots of students have begun to make more friends than in previous years. This is due to the fact that after the work for the class period is done, talking is the simplest option. Normally it would be easiest to pull out your phone but with that not being a viable option anymore we are talking with more people. It’s easier and less stressful to start conversations without the presence of phones. 

We have started to understand lessons faster, and teachers have had to make changes to their plans in order to take up the entire class so kids aren’t enticed by their phones. It’s been found to be hard to find other work instead of going on our phones because it is a habit. It’s a habit that hasn’t completely been broken. 

Solely from a student’s perspective, this legislation changed how high school is looked at for us. Coming into the building it was expected that more leniency would be given since it’s one step closer to the real world. However, it now appears that the freedom that would have come with getting older is taken away. 

We should be free to make necessary appointments, to communicate with employers, or to access our digital calendars. We have jobs, doctor’s appointments, and adult obligations that make using our phones necessary at times. Teachers do the same and oftentimes during class. We see it. What we don’t see is that same privilege given to those of us who are considered legal adults by the same government that restricts access to these devices. 

The rule makes sense for being in a classroom while actively learning, but we have a hard time seeing why having our phones during passing periods or at lunch is harmful to our education. Having time to relax and destress from school work is something vital for lots of students. 

Those of us who work have struggled to contact employers during the day and have had occasions when we forgot to put extracurricular activities in our calendars in order to ensure that we ask off. Last year, being able to type things into the calendar digitally was the automatic reaction. Now we have had to switch the response and rely on our memory or writing things down. 

We think banning phones in the classroom is great and effective for our learning, however banning phones during the entire school day is detrimental, especially when we get to the real world without knowing the balance of work and personal circumstances.