Photo: AFP
One of the centerpieces of Governor Kathy Hochul’s preliminary $254 billion New York state budget is a statewide ban on cell phones in schools. The bell-to-bell initiative appears set to pass easily; starting next academic year, students across the state would not be allowed to have a cell phone in class. Naturally, there are about as many opinions on whether cell phones should be banned entirely during the school day as there are models of cell phones. WOR’s Beat on the Street reporter Natalie Migliore appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to ask New Yorkers if they agree or disagree with the ban.
Migliore stopped a few school employees and educators on their way to work; the majority of them told her they are for the ban. One of the few who didn’t thought a compromise could be better: “I work at a high school, so I think not having cell phones is a relief for the teachers, so the kids can actually do their work. But I know the kids actually miss having interaction with their friends on their phones. There’s not, like, a simple solution for it to make both parties happy, but if there was a way, I think it could work out on both ends.”
Students, however, seemed split on the ban. One girl told Migliore, “I don’t like it. Phones are good to have for safety reasons, because they like to take our phones away, but they can be really helpful, because not all of us are always on our phones.” Another teen said, “In this century, you definitely need your phone for information and a lot of things you can learn. But again, at the same time, you know when people get lost in the scrolling, like Tik Tok, Reelz, Instagram and all that- it shortens your attention span.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images