In Kentucky, June 27, 2025, a statewide law, House Bill 208, requires all school districts to establish a policy that prohibits student cellphone use during instructional time. The law allows an exception for emergencies, teacher directed instructional use, and health related needs. Obviously, this created a lot of controversy for students, especially the ones at South. Students seem to have some concerns about the new change. Let’s see what they have to say. To start, Sophomore Dakota Stevenson says, “I actually like the phone ban, I like that we can still have it out during hall change and lunch. Not being able to have phones in class helps us students focus.” Dakota thinks that not being able to use phones now, creates more focus in the classroom. She also says that it’s fair to still be allowed usage during free times like lunch or hall break. Another student, Jameson Marcus, a freshman this year claims that he feels neutral about the rule, and that it doesn’t affect him because he hardly used his phone in class anyway. Saying “I don’t mind it too much, it hasn’t affected me at all. If students are strictly prohibited from having phones then I’ll just obey it.” However, some students have some disagreements with these opinions. For example, Raelyn Shoemaker (sophomore) declared, “I think it’s stupid. I feel like just because other students were on their phones in class, doesn’t mean everyone deserves a phone home. I think the students who had their phones out should have a phone home, not the students who were actually behaving.” As it shows, Raelyn has a strong opinion on this new law. It seems she believes that the policy is unfair, and that some students don’t deserve it. Freshman Lorelie Price also feels a strong disagreement as well, debating “I hate it, it makes me nervous. I want to be able to easily contact someone important during an emergency.”
Based on these results, students have very diverse opinions about the new law, some students seem to feel more on task without a cellphone distraction, while others feel that cellphones are important to have on you and should not be banned from all students. Overall, it appears that the majority of students are still adjusting to the new cellphone use law.
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