In early January, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that would ban cell phone use in K-12 New Jersey schools in order to foster less in-class distraction and to improve the mental health and focus of students.
Governor Murphy reported in his address, “By eliminating unnecessary distractions, we are fundamentally changing our schools’ learning environments and encouraging our children to be more attentive and engaged during the school day.”
In compliance with this new legislation, Gateway is adopting a bell-to-bell phone ban for the 2026-2027 academic school year. Students will be expected to keep their digital devices in their backpacks or lockers out of sight. The ban starts in Morning Meeting and ends at the end of the school day.
While I definitely agree that a bell-to-bell ban will improve student attention and decrease social conflicts, there are students — like myself — who are very motivated to succeed academically, and as such, self-monitor our phone use throughout the day. Some of us enjoy listening to music during the passing periods or while completing an assignment in class, so it is frustrating that the epidemic of student apathy will make the school day less enjoyable for those who can exhibit self-control.
However, a law is a law, so my friends and I have brainstormed some ways we can still enjoy the school day while remaining compliant with school policy.
Personally, I plan to go old-school since we won’t be able to pair AirPods or other blue tooth devices with our cell phones. I was actually inspired by my older sister who inherited our mother’s old walk-man and disc-man from her college days. My sister had fun foraging through thrift stores for cassettes and CDs.
Despite Murphy’s legislation going into effect after my sister’s time at Gateway, she had fun bringing her favorite CDs with her to class to listen to music during independent work time. It may have been quite the sight to see at the time; however, I should apologize for making fun of her, as following her footsteps may be the only way I can cope next year. I need music to focus, as there will always be distractions that I need to tune out — regardless of the newly enforced phone ban.
For those who find music distracting, want something tangible to do during CHOMP or lunch, or after their work is finished, I suggest going old-school yet again and purchasing a variety of physical puzzle books, such as sudoku, crosswords, or word searches. I would suggest saving a few bucks and pulling up one of these games online; however, Gateway has blocked most music and puzzle game sites, such as PuzzleBoats (and even the Oregon Trail!). I would argue that sites such as these ARE educational, so my suggestion would be that Gateway reconsiders the blocking of these sites to provide students with productive outlets in lieu of their cell phones.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to talk, but inevitably I will get in trouble for excessive chatter. Thus, I and so many other students, require a refuge.
I also plan on bringing magazines and books with me next year. I inherited my sister’s physical collection of the past year’s editions of The New Yorker, and I have a long to-be-read list I look forward to cutting into. I know many students my age profess their disdain for reading these days, but I would argue that those vehemently against books just haven’t found the right one.
As far as magazines go, I think many would be surprised how similar they can be to one’s TikTok For You Page. While they lack brain rot, most diverse magazines feature an engaging mix of news, opinion, fashion, cooking, and even gossip. Sure, there isn’t catchy music playing in the background while you read, and it takes more than 15 seconds to consume an article, but I think improving our attention spans will do us all some good.
So, while the phone ban may leave many disgruntled — since phones are being banned in schools before guns, force the motivated minority to hold a grudge against their passive peers, and will certainly take some time to get used to — I know we will all be okay. It isn’t an ideal situation, but there is no doubt that our generation has been impacted negatively by our reliance on our devices.
Who knows, maybe being forced to be phone-free all day will actually result in us treating our phone use more intentionally. Or, we’ll realize that life is more than a casual scroll or message sent through a screen.
