Negative effects of cell phone used in school

Cell phones are becoming an extremely popular electronic for people to purchase and in some instances they are even replacing house phones. They are also becoming more technologically advanced. Many children, even as young as kindergarten-age, are becoming cell phone owners. The potential of things that can be done with these phones is endless. When it comes to controlling cell phones in the classroom, most parents think forbidding children from bringing cell phones onto school property is an extreme measure. A recent survey that 95 percent of parents prefer to be the ones in control of their child's cell phone use.

Teacher’s Opinion:

  At the school level, children have to learn to be disciplined. Allowing them to use mobile phones will make them used to the luxury and only spoil them. It is unnecessary because schools provide a protected environment. Parents needn't worry about their kids' safety that much.

It is strictly parent’s responsibility to keep mobiles away from the children. If it rings in the classroom it disturbs the whole class & sidetracks the students' attention, not only the mobile holder’s. In my perspective it should be stringently forbidden at school-level. If parents want to know the safety of their children they can use school phone.

  With the passage of time and with advancement in science and technology, moral values have taken a back seat. These days students do not have any respect for their parents, teachers and classmates. And mobile phones act as a catalyst in it. It is being exploited as a status symbol by the certain class of society causing heartburn for those who cannot afford them. Hence they should be banned in schools.

  Students can turn their phone off, or turn it on vibrate or silence during their classes so that it does not ring and causes a disruption while they are learning. They are able to silence their phones, but most students will forget to this at least once during their high school career. When they do forget and they receive a call or text message, the whole class stops. Even if students put their phone in vibrate mode, some cell phones can still be heard. Everyone turns to look at what is causing the sudden noise and the teacher stops talking. This distracts students from their lesson and makes them have to re-focus all over again.

  Students who have their cell phone in class can use it to cheat. They can text another person and ask them the questions on the test, or the assignment they are given. This causes a problem because it can be very simple to do. Teachers pay attention to their students, but they cannot watch all of them at the same time. During a test it is more easier to catch a student who is text messages, but during regular class it can be easy to miss. Cell phones enable students to cheat fairly easily.

Principal’s Opinion:

  The cell phone could turn into a potent device for some students. Instead of using it for academics and emergencies, some students might make unlawful use of its features - like that of the camera, and therefore bring the issue of school safety into the picture. They might click snaps that are not right, or record videos that are questionable in nature or call the school and report a bomb threat as a prank or to cancel classes. They may also use the phone to draw out other illegal activities like drug deals, thefts and the like.

  Some believe that when students use their cell phones at school, it makes rumors spread faster. Everyone has access to a cell phone and when somebody hears a rumor, they send a text message to their friend to tell them about it, and their friend sends a text message to another friend, and so on. Some also think that the fast spreading of rumors makes it more likely that the rumors will worsen as it is being spread, and that the quicker it spreads, the worse it gets. When a rumor does start, the use of cell phone increases as each person receives the news, and the overuse of cell phones can cause cell phone network to overload which means that someone who is in an emergency would not be able to reach the people who could provide them help.

  The parents should not be contacting their kids in the middle of my lectures.  It’s simply ignorant and bad cell phone etiquette.  If they had a real legitimate reason to interrupt my class, they could call the school’s main number and have the student paged. It takes no time at all for the secretary to get in touch with me and notify the student.  In this way there is the added benefit of us tracking exactly what’s going on so the school isn’t in the dark when there are family issues. The school needs to be informed when a student up and left and when parents contact students directly and they leave, we are left in a panic looking for the student.

  Schools that have metal detectors at their doors and are considered extremely dangerous are the only schools that typically confiscate cell phones. The reason: when students get into fights, they often call for "outside assistance." This could mean a gang member calling older members of his gang or members who attend a different school. School administrators report that cell phones should be considered a weapon in these schools because they allow small-scale fights to spiral out of control. Out-of-control fights put the school administrators who are trying to control the fight in danger.

In the conclusion, most of the authorities do not encourage school board allow their children bring cell phone to school. The main problem that authorities face with their children being able to use their cell phones during school are distraction of cell phone in class, cheating in test or quiz, sending sexual messages or pictures among students and etc. Therefore, authorities should teach their children the correct  way of wisely use in cell phone instead of  using cell phone for listen music and  text messaging in class.

Written by,

Khaw Yi Xian

Ong Huey Li

Ooi Chun Xin

Parents’ opinion :