One Canberra student's opinion on banning phones in schools

My school bans phones during school hours for students in years 7 to 10. But next year when I begin college, I will be allowed to have a phone in class.

I'm not going to lie, I go on my phone in class. But, it's usually after I have listened to the teacher and finished my work. If I really have to get some work done, I just do it rather than having that distraction.

I'm one of the lucky ones to have parents that trust in me completing my work and always doing my best as well.

But that's because I want to be the best that I can and I work hard so that I can be that. I've never really had to push myself to do school work or homework because I understand it is what I have to do to achieve things.

I know other kids might not be like me.

I can see how for some students it could be a very bad thing to have that distraction in class and I definitely understand that you can't discriminate. It's either ban all phones or no phones, so there's really no happy medium. I think that's a barrier because all kids learn so differently.

You can't make a rule that suits everyone, and the school is just trying to do it's best to minimise disturbances.

The thing is, even if I don't have my phone with me in class, my laptop is linked to it so every message I get on my phone, I also get on my laptop. It's just the way technology has developed, just like with the Apple watch - which is basically a phone on your wrist.

Kids are always going to find ways to get around the rules. With laptops in class, the teachers say close your laptop to 45 degrees but kids just lean back to look at the screen anyway.

I think if I had to, I would be able to go a whole school day without using my phone.

Part of me believes we don't need phones at school because we're so busy and we have so many friends to talk to.

But another part of me thinks it's not as big a deal as the teachers make it to be, and them making it a big deal makes it an even bigger deal.

With the recent decision to ban phones in all Victorian public schools, the government aims to approach the issue of cyberbullying from a different angle. But why ban phones when there are other devices in classrooms?

Most schools around Australia now have compulsory devices for students as part of the "digital age" but this makes the new movement towards banning phones quite bittersweet.

Victorian schools are taking a step back into the past, but this is contradicting the fact they want to bring in more interactive components in schools.

Meanwhile, in relation to cyberbullying, I see the main issue to be the movement of bullying into the home.

Bullying before the rise of technology was mainly confined to school hours and face-to-face encounters but as technology developed, we have started to see bullying brought into a child's "safe space" - their home.

No longer was a child able to escape the bullies from school, but they now carried them around on a mobile device.

So is removing mobile phones during school hours going to reduce the amount of cyberbullied victims in society?

Perhaps it is going to encourage our schools to take a step backwards and face a rise in the "traditional" bullying style.

To me, the Victorian phone ban may not obtain the results they are looking for as it might prompt more rebellious behaviour from children with a technology addiction.

Devices in our school's have been used as a new source to research things for students, and a new source of interaction.

They have been a major contributor to children's education, but, on the other hand, have also been a major distraction in the case of specific students.

I believe that depending on the work ethic of a student or their ability to be engaged in learning, devices can be a great advantage to the education system as well as the students themselves.

Locking mobile phones away during school hours doesn't eliminate the cyberbullying altogether, and who knows whether it will even reduce it since there are alternative methods for students to continue cyberbullying.

I think everyone has to accept the fact that it will never be perfect and you can't please everyone.

As I mentioned before, other devices are not just available, but compulsory for students in many schools around the country, which makes it is very hard to control the advantages and disadvantages of the ban - therefore making the movement bittersweet and a tad controversial.