We have been in school for around two months now, and these two months have been completely phoneless. For the most part, there has been little to no complaint from the students. While it can be annoying, not having phones is causing students to become more connected to each other. I have had my fair of complaints every now and then about not having my phone on me, but for the most part, I do not mind it. However, there became a problem this last Service Day.

Other than the seniors who drove themselves to their various locations, the students had to take buses from the school to their locations. We had to turn in our phones like any other day, which was fine until the realization that we would be without them off campus settled in. I asked a couple students what they thought about this. Here are their thoughts:

“I felt a little unsafe and worried, but eventually the fear went away when I was actually working on service. The fear eventually goes away when you’re in a group. Worried about whether my parents could contact me or not. I was imagining the worst…I worried about anything and everyone. It definitely made me more stressed. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much because I was worrying.”

“I don’t support their decision. I felt very uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t really care. I felt that I was really able to connect with my peers, but there was always this nagging fear of worry.”

I also became aware of parents’ worry. I know that my parents were worried about me going downtown without having my own way of contacting them. They realized that while teachers would have their contact information, it would take significantly longer to contact them because they would have to spend time finding them. If something were to happen, I would have my parents’ contact in a matter of seconds. This matter of seconds may not seem like a big deal, as I knew we were safe in the school’s hands, but the concern is still there.

So what now? We know the phone rule is not going to change, but the concerns of students and some parents are still there. Any new school policy will have growing pains, but students and teachers alike will either become used to it, or will strive to make a difference to what they think is right.