On Friday, June 20, 2025, two weeks before the United States was set to celebrate independence and freedom, Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed a bill that will restrict those freedoms. Abbot signed House Bill 1481, a bill that will prohibit students in K-12 education from using wireless personal communication devices, including personal phones, smart watches, and laptops, during instructional periods.
Previously, school districts had the option of adopting this policy, allowing schools to set rules and punishments as they saw fit. Now, however, every school district in Texas will be forced to adopt this policy, though the bill does not outline any repercussions should a student not comply, nor does it discuss any exceptions.
This policy is possibly the most mindless and senseless idea I have ever heard. There are numerous instances in which a student may need their personal device, yet the state views these as insignificant when compared to the smaller issues that phones cause. They argue that phones cause a distraction during classes, affecting productivity and scores. While this may be true, to an extent, removing phones is not going to remove distractions. Students will find ways to waste time and cause distractions regardless of phones.
The problem is not the phones. The problem is the students. If a student does not want to sit in class and learn, they will not sit in class and learn. They will find a way to cause a distraction and derail the class. A student who is uninterested or unwilling to learn will not suddenly become interested in class when their phone is taken away.
I speak from my own personal experience when I say this. I have witnessed students getting their phones taken away because it is a “distraction,” and all it did was cause the student to become louder and more disruptive. They did not suddenly pay attention. In fact, they ended up distracting more students without their phone than they did with their phone. Unless the student is given actual punishment, they will continue to disrupt class.
Moreover, phones create more of a distraction to teachers than they do students. Teachers face zero repercussions for being on their phones during instructional periods, which is entirely hypocritical. I have personally witnessed several instances where teachers or substitutes were so distracted by their own devices that they were unaware of the chaos around them. Students were wrestling, throwing trash, and arguing, yet the teacher did nothing. It is a complete double standard.
Furthermore, phones can play key roles in the case of an emergency. If a student has no way to reach emergency services, or, at the very least, a responsible adult, the consequences could be catastrophic. If a school shooting or other disaster was to occur in a location without an adult, what are the students supposed to do? If there was a medical emergency in a locker room, a room where there is no school phone and, typically, no adults, what is going to happen? Students should be allowed a way to contact authorities without having to run around the school in search of a teacher or working school phone. In the case of a school shooting, are students expected to not want to contact their families? What about the students in the bathroom or outside of the building? They have no way of knowing what is going on because all of the information is on the teachers’ phones and isn’t announced over the intercoms. A student that is not with a teacher will be in danger because they do not know what is going on. Other students should be allowed to share emergency information with those outside of the classrooms, but they will have no way of doing so without their phones, putting the lives of several students at risk.
Additionally, phones are sometimes required in classrooms. For example, during this past year, my geometry class had no choice but to use the calculators on our phones because the school-provided calculators could not complete the required equations. Similarly, some classes and organizations use apps on cell phones such as Remind to share information about meetings, assignments, schedule changes, projects, and much more.
It is true that phones can cause distractions, and I am not saying students should be allowed on their phones at all times. Students should keep their phones put away while a teacher is speaking, while doing an assignment, or while taking a test. But this bill goes too far. Ultimately, cell phones, when used properly, are more of a useful tool than a harmful distraction.
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