Latin is always aiming to build community. It’s the number one issue brought up in student government elections, the focus of many speeches at gatherings, and even part of the new strategic plan’s title. But if Latin cares so much about community, why is everyone rallying against the phone ban?
Phone bans, now required for public schools in over half of U.S. states, have been implemented en masse in the hope of improving student social, academic, and mental health outcomes. These reforms advance the exact community that Latin so deeply focuses on—phone bans help students interact with each other more.
Already, I’ve seen the no-phone magic in action. In the theater during assemblies, I’m sure our beginning-of-year games were a bit less guarded with the wonderful knowledge that no one was recording. During grade-level bonding activities, my peers and I pushed ourselves out of our social comfort zone without the help of a pocket-sized digital crutch. In the library, everyone seems a bit more focused without the constant temptation to check their notifications.
Phone-free, the Latin community is coming together in ways big and small. I, for one, am glad to have a front row, distraction-free seat to watch it happen.
Even the halls have lost their malaise—fewer heads are angled 45 degrees down, and hallway traffic is feeling the benefit. These past few weeks, there have been no shuffling phone-absorbed masses, no raucous-laughter-generating throngs in the 4th-floor café, no six-pack of excuse me’s just to get to class.
More wonderfully still, the masses of students bumping into each other have been replaced with actual interaction. Instead of bonding over Clash Royale, students seem to be actually talking together—it’s truly something out of “The Breakfast Club.”
Yet as much as I appreciate these improvements, I won’t say the ban is without downsides. I certainly wouldn’t have made it through the first day of freshman year without checking my Google Calendar at least 25 times. And I can absolutely relate to the fear of not being able to contact my family in case of a lockdown or emergency.
However, as worrying as these issues are, none of them are insurmountable. The real reason Latin students are opposed to the phone ban must go deeper, striking against core feelings of student agency.
For one, I don’t believe that most Latin students are truly worried about navigating emergencies without their phones. Many Latin students use MacBooks, which have iCloud abilities, meaning iPhone users can still text on their computer in an emergency. And we shouldn’t underestimate Latin’s incredible Operations team; we’re lucky to have a myriad of resources that stand between us and harm’s way—with or without our phones.
Outside of worst-case scenarios, Latin students are creative and resourceful. We know that almost anything you use your phone for, you can do on your computer, without the phone-induced world disconnect. It might be less feasible to check our schedules while walking between classes, but when we need it, the Google Calendar website will still be there.
I’m entirely confident our student body is well aware of all of these technological workarounds. This confidence gives me conviction. Much as we might claim, our objections to the ban aren’t primarily about safety, and I doubt that convenience tells the whole story either. Instead, I think the reason Latin students don’t like the phone ban is simple: They don’t want to be controlled.
It’s a tale as old as time—or at least, older than the 1954 novel Lord of the Flies: Young people often prefer a bit of anarchy to any group control. In the case of phone bans, this tendency is decidedly evident. Our persistence in dissent can’t be about policy concerns; it’s been two weeks—we haven’t slowed down enough to understand the true impact of the ban. Rather, this discord is something deeper: a knee-jerk reaction to the feeling of control that transcends any rational argument.
To an extent, I empathize with this feeling; it’s mind-boggling that in a year I will be trusted to live on my own and vote in elections, and yet for now, I can’t manage my own phone use. But between this year’s vibrant gatherings, engaged classrooms, calm hallways, connected advisories, and productive libraries, I see exactly why the administration put the ban in place. I hope that Latin students can rise above the fear of losing autonomy and see the phone ban for what it is: a force to bring our community together.
Personally, I’m grateful for the phone ban. I’ll take a more connected community over the minor conveniences of a cell phone any day. With phones gone, we’re (ironically) finally reconnecting, and I can’t wait to see all the wonderful things we will build as a community this year, phone-free.
