The familiar and comforting buzz of a phone has become an essential aspect of life for many. For an item that exemplifies how technology improves lives, for an item utilized so frequently, the phone is nevertheless an item all too often subjected to the elementary and counter-intuitive phone home. The need to stop preemptively forcing phones into short term storage has never been more clear.

While teachers may view phone homes as a useful tool of restraint, I find them to be a symbol of distrust. Although in select situations teachers need this tool, in the phone home’s attempts to prevent negative distractions, it ends the possibility of positive student-phone interactions that enhance learning by efficiently connecting students to a variety of resources such as “Skyward” or “Blackboard”.

Additionally, not having the consistent presence of a phone safely tucked away in one’s pocket is akin to not having clothes on for many. Often is the case that the resulting uncomfortableness is far more distracting to a student than a phone could ever be.

Furthermore, the flawed phone home is not the only way for teachers to maintain control. Our school has a BYOD policy, which is a far simpler system that still allows teachers to take away devices, but only after such a device becomes an issue. This system should be sufficient for teachers, as it permits teachers to remove problematic devices, whilst still showing a reasonable respect toward the student population.

At first glance phones homes may appear to be an effective mechanism, but in an age of beneficial technology, phone homes serve only as a way to stain the classroom by being ineffective and insulting, particularly in the face of a more viable answer.