By Tamar Darlow, Staff Writer

The facts

On July 28, the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, signed Senate Bill 2427 into law, enacting phone limits across approximately 850 public school districts in Illinois. This law, to be implemented in the 2027-28 school year, means that all electronic devices — with the exception of school-issued computers — will be prohibited from use at any point during the school day.

As a current freshman, I initially felt a sort of impending doom from this bill. While seniors and juniors are approaching the end of their high school careers, freshmen and sophomores would have to spend multiple years with this phone ban. This raises further questions: What is to happen in those years? How will I manage a school day without my phone?

Many other freshmen panicked. However, I have learned in my research that the strict full-day ban only applies to kindergarten through 8th grade students, whereas high schools are not necessarily held to the same rule. Rather, while the phone restrictions will still apply in class, high school students may be able to use their phones during lunch and passing periods, depending on their school districts’ policies.

What this means for Payton

For most high schools in Illinois, nothing about the current way we go about our school days will change due to the bill alone. Whether Chicago Public Schools will ban phones during passing periods and lunch periods has not yet been decided on. After learning this information, I felt more hopeful about my future years at Payton, yet nervous about the possibility of a phone ban during lunch and passing periods.

Such an outcome would be quite detrimental to my daily education, and many other students would likely agree. While this may seem like a dramatic sentence composed by someone who is too attached to their phone, I have reason to find the phone ban harmful to education. This makes me empathize with those in middle school, who are guaranteed a phone ban throughout the entire school day. I truly believe that this harm is much greater than not being able to scroll through TikTok during one’s lunch period.

The phone ban harms student education

My main concern is that I may no longer be able to put reminders for homework in my phone. I have gotten into the habit of always putting homework reminders in my phone during passing periods — right when I am assigned homework, so it is easiest to remember — and using a widget to attach the Reminders app to my lock screen. I have found that this is the only surefire way for me to be able to remember my homework, as I check my phone constantly after school for texts, emails and so forth. When I have not put reminders on my phone, I will often not turn something in on time. My phone is vital for my academic success, as I am much less likely to check my school planner (for the obvious reason that I cannot fit a planner in my pocket whenever I am on the go). I find it highly likely that this same problem exists for students with attention deficits who will struggle with the same issue due to the Illinois phone ban.

When it comes to having poor recollection skills, the phone ban poses another large issue for starting the school year. It would prevent me from checking my class schedule on my phone, meaning I would have to write down all my classes on paper, which would be very inconvenient. The trouble with this is that rather than simply pulling out my phone with ease to check my classes, getting to classes (whose locations many students tend to forget) at the beginning of the year will take more time and effort. This means that the chances of being tardy to class would increase, making it more difficult for me to succeed academically due to a higher tardy rate. Ultimately, this could negatively affect students’ attendance and overall academic success for students, proving that the Illinois phone ban is detrimental to a positive educational experience.

Finally, a large concern for me is that the phone ban could prevent me from signing up for enrichments or remembering which enrichment I have each day. This is an important aspect to consider, as for Payton students, our unique enrichment system is a large part of a typical school day. If we were not allowed our phones in passing periods, the entire enrichment process would become extremely frustrating.

I often forget which enrichments I have signed up for each day, as for most Payton students, their enrichment changes day to day. Not having access to Selenium on a phone will once again result in tardiness and add to the chaos around enrichments, as students struggle to find classes, swap out of enrichments and search for activities in an accessible way. Ultimately, this could result in a lack of diversity in enrichment activities, and thus a deficit in the joy and creativity surrounding enrichment periods.

The ban isn’t all bad

Despite the many negatives of the phone ban, there are absolutely positives involved. For starters, with regard to Payton, I believe that it is beneficial for all phone usage to be banned in a classroom. During class, students should always resort to the tools they are given rather than their devices; thus, I believe that additional enforcement of the in-classroom phone ban is beneficial to students’ education.

The phone ban for all elementary schools in Illinois is also a positive, as I personally believe that no elementary student should have a portable device, such as a phone or smart watch, at all. However, many elementary students do have such devices, and while that decision is ultimately up to their guardians, device use should be managed at school. I believe that a lack of technology for growing minds, especially in a place of education, will help elementary students to improve their critical thinking skills and overall academic knowledge.

The conclusion

While we should not disregard the positives of the Illinois phone ban, we must also recognize the harms that this ban will cause for many Illinois school students, including those at Payton. We should therefore seek solutions such as pushback to this bill in order to improve students’ day-to-day education.