House Bill 1481, which went into effect this school year, requires all Texas school districts to prohibit students from using cell phones and other electronic devices during the school day. This is in an attempt to help kids learn more effectively and face less distractions during the school day. Students’ phones must be away and out of sight.

This phone ban is not going to benefit individuals or schools. There are bigger issues, such as threats to school safety due to the dramatic rise of gun violence. In 2025 so far there have been 146 gun-related incidents in the country and phones should not be a primary concern.

School safety is still a major problem and if there is an emergency kids need to have their phones with them. Students should be able to contact their parents at any given time or place. Phones can be a sense of security for students and taking them away only harms them.

Taking away phones is gonna make students more sneaky and try to find ways to go on their devices without educators knowing. Having phones can help kids learn self control because they can manage when to use it and when not to. Just because there are rules against it doesn’t mean they are gonna stop being used. For kids who come to school to learn, having a phone would not be a distraction.

Students who require learning accommodations and non-English speaking students are also negatively affected because of the inability to access assistive technology and translation tools respectively. 

No matter what rules are in place, students are gonna pull out their phones. Whether it is from habit or intentional phones will always be around in schools.