Hi,

Emergencies Having a cell phone on hand enables a student to quickly summon assistance in the middle of an emergency. Incidences of violent attacks at a school, fires, kidnappings, medical emergencies and other emergencies can be reported quickly so that the appropriate authorities dispatched. Without the cell phones available on the scene, valuable time can be lost finding a nearby phone, dialing out of the school's phone network, and finally contacting the authorities.

Student Distraction

Cell phones, and especially smartphones, can present considerable distraction to their owners and nearby classmates. Distractions come in the form of text messages, phone calls, unrestricted Internet access and any number of entertaining applications. When set to run silently, these phones can also distract both when students are in class and during free periods that ordinarily could be dedicated to studying.

Parental Contact

Allowing students to carry cell phones gives parents the ability to contact their children whenever necessary. This can include during family emergencies or when a student may need to arrange a different method of getting home. Likewise, students can contact their parents to arrange a ride home when ill, or they can request a forgotten book or project be brought to the school.

Class Disruption

A cell phone going off can be extremely disruptive in the middle of class, interrupting a lecture or breaking student concentration during a test. Cell phones don't always simply make noise to inform of an incoming call; incoming text messages, low battery alerts and alerts from applications can all make disruptive noise or produce disruptive light.

Difficult Enforcement

Enforcing a cell phone ban can be be difficult and decidedly time-consuming. Most students are likely to carry the phone anyway in case of an emergency, and taking time to note every offense against the ban wastes the time that an educator could be using to teach students. Confiscating phones can lead to confrontations with parents, adding further administrative gridlock that can otherwise be avoided. As a result, acceptance can be a less time-consuming option than a ban.

Theft

Allowing cell phones in schools invites the risk of theft. Many cell phones, and especially smartphones, can be particularly appealing targets to criminals who can remove or extract user data and then resell the phones. Keeping students' phones out of the school eliminates the risk of theft, and prevents the need for costly replacement of the phones.

Child Location

Most modern phones include a GPS transmitter that details the phone's location. While these transmitters are generally included for use in applications or monitoring the phone's location for roaming assessment, they also can be used to locate the owner in cases where they've gone missing. This can be vital in locating delinquent students or those who've gone missing during school hours.

Cheating

With most smartphones featuring a fully featured Web browser, the potential for cheating has grown exponentially. Clever students can subtly look up the answers to test questions using search engines such as Google or online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. While careful monitoring often eliminates this issue, the potential for mischief is still considerable.

Refer:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/27/should-mobiles-be-banned-schools

http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1350.pdf

http://www.academia.edu/5161349/BANNING_CELL_PHONES_IN_SCHOOL

http://lpbeland.weebly.com/uploads/7/8/7/5/7875420/lpb_rm_mobilephone.pdf

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.389.6546&rep=rep1&type=pdf

I am a teacher and deal with cell phone use on a daily basis. What would happen if they were banned in class and on school grounds? They would be quite crabby at first, but would eventually get used to it. Cell phones did not exist when I was in school. I lived and thrived. Life is NOT spelled "iPhone"!!  Tell the kids, "Get a life! Get an education!"  

Although, that is not the case at my school. So I learn to deal with it. Either I collect them at the beginning of the hour and give them back at the end. Or they get a '1' (F) if they pull it out during class. Or I quiz them heavily if they are using it, then take it if they cannot answer my questions. Some refuse to give it up and say, "I'll put it in my pocket. It won't come out again." I say, "You and I know that is not true. Give it to me!! ...or I contact your parents/ talk to your classmaster/....." Gotta be tough, yet loving.

Some times I actually make use of their cell phones. "Look up..... and tell me what you think...."

Dear Kapiolani, 

I recognised the same situation as you: Since some years many schools are banning mobile devices from classrooms.

Now since a few month I see that more and more schools are now allowing mobile devices in calssrooms here in Austria. More and mores schools are using the individual different devices from the students for their lessons. Nearly every stundent here is equiped with an own mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and therefore is equiped with a high performing computer. Now there are many schools who rund the solgan "byond" - bring your own device.

Students use their mobile device the whole day. Schools are now more and more using them too. It's a big chance to show the students the does and don'ts (where are the dangers, where are the advantages,...). Students use the mobile device for internet searches, for working with education apps, for their homework, for projects, and a lot of more. 

We have become so reliant on our mobile phones that we think its necessary to have it all the time. Without a phone, parents might feel uneasy knowing they won't be able to contact their children. We have seen many school shootings lately around the United States in particular, and so  parents might think its necessary for their children to have mobile phones in case of emergencies. 

In my previous secondary school, mobiles were banned.  Students were not mature enough to take care of them, and problems were caused when mobiles were stolen.  But in this k12 college where I'm now teaching, I encourage my students to use mobiles to search for a lot of useful info.  I feel that mobiles should be used with responsibility.  With mobiles, my students have access to the Web of knowledge, and I don't want to hinder this/  Thanks.

Senthilvel provided a helpful list of basic issues; I don't think this mobile genie can be put back in its bottle, especially with more wearable technologies emerging, like the Apple watch; where are you going to draw the line? While people romanticize the chalk and slate days of education, we definitely have a much better system now for the contemporary life we live; it's not perfect, and mobile devices can cause problems, but they also can lead to really great and expansive learning opportunities. In short, I think blaming the tool is the wrong way to go. It's the people (and the culture), as Miranda notes, that dictate if mobile devices are used well or not. I suspect if you took their mobile devices, they would just start passing paper notes again, or something like that. So the better approach is to embrace the technology, find its purpose in the pedagogy and trust that the students get out of the education what they put into it. Some students will always be doodling, or passing notes, or sleeping, or goofing around, so they tend to get what they earn in that case. But others shouldn't be held back from the power of mobile networking because of the problems of the few.

I went to a high school where all mobile devices were banned from school. I felt it gave off a sense that we were not to be trusted if we had a phone. If you were caught with a phone, you were given detention. I believe that if you are given the opportunity to connect in any situation, it is somewhat beneficial to the community. I think the benefits outweigh the cons in allowing students to connect. 

students would complain that the management is not trusting them. That they are hindering outside knowledge.  And that the management is not broad minded. And that in this grownup world you need to be connected with everyone all the time. And also that their parents would be enquiering them now and then because of their concern as these days lot of miss-happenings happen all around and to students especially. These thins would be their argument .

When I was in university more than 15 years ago, mobile phone was kinda a luxury; what was popular then was beeper, which could also be a bit annoying when it started beeping at class. But the distraction didn't last long.

Now technology is developing at an incredibly fast speed. Mobile devices dominate our life, especially young generation's life. I see students heavily relying on their smartphones or other tablets during class; many socializing with friends, others interacting with teachers, some even watching shows...

I think totally banning mobile phones at school is not a wise decision, because they nowadays are not just a tool to make calls, but a way of life and a way to stay connected and updated to the world.

Hi Capiolani,

We address many of these issues in the following book chapter.

Regards, Kevin

Larkin, K., Finger, G. & Thompson, R. (2010). Student health and welfare in networked school communities. In M. Lee and G. Finger (Eds), Developing Networked School Communities: A Guide to Realising the Vision (pp. 277-288) Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press.