While personal device policies differ from region to region and class to class, almost every teacher has recognized the new normal of post-pandemic reliance on technology. Digitalization, using computers and phones, has made life easier for everyone. We would have come to this sooner or later, so banning phones in schools seems inappropriate to me.
A total ban on the use of any gadgets, including smartphones, at school can lead to the opposite result: the student’s motivation will not increase, but, on the contrary, will fall. That is because when gadgets are banned in schools, a wall is erected between the institution where students spend a significant amount of time and the ‘outside’ life. It seems that modern technologies can only be used for entertainment and have no place in school. However, within the walls of an educational institution, the foundations of a future life are laid, and specific skills are formed, so it is necessary to take advantage of the advantages that the digital era offers.
I believe there is no need to prohibit the presence of mobile phones at school. Still, their use should be limited directly during the educational process, especially among children in elementary grades. That is due to the existing ideas of responsibility of high school students; while in elementary school, a child wants to have fun more than to gain new knowledge. The author also notes that banning the same phone now because it is also a portal to the rest of the world seems like an overcorrection at best and a disclaimer at worst (Berry, 2022). Moreover, due to the pandemic, there has been a sharp transition to the digital space, and a return to old traditions can cause stress or a decline in motivation.
Thus, since modern teenagers and children are born in the digital age, their restriction from gadgets can be equated to a restriction from the outside world. The pandemic that spread in 2019 led to a dramatic paradigm shift in teaching and learning and showed that this could never happen anyway. Not all schools are equipped with good technology, and thanks to smartphones that everyone now has, you can use the whole class. It can increase the interest of students and preserve their familiar environment, both living and learning.
Reference
Berry, E. (2022). Banning phones in class? Not so fast. Wired. Web.