The usage of phones in classrooms has always been and remains a highly controversial issue. Even with the recent province-wide ban of these devices, they still remain prevalent as a major source of distraction in the classroom. This seems to come down to a lack of consistency in these rules being upheld, enforced and explained in most classrooms. As it seems the actual application of this ban falls almost entirely on the teacher, it begs the question of what the right application is, if there even is one.
On one hand, teachers risk significantly decreasing their student’s ability to concentrate, retain information and succeed in their class by allowing phones. This also applies between classes as from my observation I found that a singular teacher that was non-proactive at enforcing this rules lead to the standard being set for that student, causing them to lose focus in other classes as well. However, the argument could be made that learning to manage ones time and attention is an important skill to develop and that learning this while still having access to their phone may be a benefit.
Image Taken From: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/academic-matters/articles/using-students-personal-mobile-devices-in-class/