We started off our background research by typing “cell phone use in schools” into the Google search file. We found articles written about high schools limiting student cell phone use. Administrators believe “[we] have to draw the line somewhere to keep phones from becoming a distraction.” Administrators still admit the rules “are kind of silly, because they would punish students for calling their parents.” Cell phones gives students and parents a piece of mind, but some say having hundreds of students make calls at once can increase confusion or jam up phone lines. Laws that fully band cell phones on school grounds are generally used to prevent drug dealing.
Next, we came to a site that stated cell phones can detract from school safety and crisis preparedness. Other websites showed students how to answer their phones, without getting caught, during class in a step by step process. It’s also being said that cell phones have “improved technology, and increased distraction.” On the dates of September 11, and the Columbine tragedy, students had access to the information of these horrible days through their phones. Once students gathered the information it caused for unnecessary panic. Teachers have also found that students are using their cell phones to easily cheat on tests in class.
New York City schools have banned cellular phones completely. This caused an “uproar” because parents felt they needed to be able to reach their students incase of an emergency. A Lawsuit was filed against the city to overturn the cell phone ban; however a judge dismissed the lawsuit saying the ban did not violate any constitutional rights of the students or of the parents.
After finding this research, we changed our search to “cell phone usage studies,” still on Google. We found studies related to cell phone usage while driving. Also, we found a study called “Study Shows No Connection Between Cell Phone Usage And Brian Cancer.” Another study found, called “She’s ‘Gotta’ Have It: Cell Phone,” found that “teenagers were so immersed in the technology that they often saw little difference between meeting face to face and talking on the phone.” According to the article, teenagers say that they feel like a ‘nobody’ if they do not have a phone.
We then changed our search to “cell phone teen studies,” still searching on Google. The first article that appeared was a study entitled “Teen cell phone use tied to unhappiness.” It was found that students in South Korea High Schools who used their phones more than ninety times a day frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. Roughly sixty percent of American teenagers own a cell phone and spend an average of an hour a day talking on their cell phones. 39% of cell phone users between the ages of 18-29 say that they are not always truthful about where they are when they are on the phone. Cell phones are believed to be related to dependence, dishonestly, bullying, brain tumors, eye strain, lack of sleep, and mental health.
