In Kentucky on March 24, 2025, a law was passed (House Bill 280) that, according to WBKO news, “Requires school boards to adopt a policy restricting cell phone and social media use during the school day.” This law was passed due to social media affecting not only learning, but mental health and bullying. Although they cannot get rid of this completely—especially since students still can use their cell phones and social media at home whenever they want—removing cell phones helps with this problem during school hours. But, what do the students think about this rule?

When interviewing a couple freshman students from Greenwood High School, only a third of them stated that phones should be allowed in school. But, the two that said they do not support the phone rule later claimed that it did help with some things.

Anissa Razakova, a freshman at Greenwood High School, did not agree with the phone rule, and claimed that there are things that may happen in school where you need to contact your parents. But, she agreed with the fact that cell phones can cause problems in school. She mentioned that taking them away helps with things like bullying, especially in the restrooms. When asked whether or not she thinks the phone rule should have anything added or changed, she hesitated, but she said no even though before she claimed that she does not support the phone rule. She admitted that Greenwood’s rule was fine. “I guess because you still get to use it; it’s better than the middle school.” Although the Greenwood students may be comfortable with the rule specifically for our school, there is probably not the same exact rule in any of the schools in Kentucky since the government lets each school decide how they would enforce this rule.

Reese McWhorter, another freshman at Greenwood High School, claimed immediately when I asked that she thinks phones should be allowed in school because “there are many good things that phones can do for us.” She then proceeded to explain some things that phones can do, like providing music to help you focus. But, she also stated in a different question that the phone rule “helps because there are lots of things that happen in school, like you can’t video fights and stuff when the phone rule is being followed.” There is someone recording at almost every school fight, which is a good reason for phones to be put away in school.

The last student, Hayaa Shoaib, a freshman, says that she does support the Kentucky phone rule, claiming that phones can be a distraction during learning time. However, she does think that the phone rule is a bit “extreme.” When asked whether or not she supports students using their phones in class without the teacher knowing, she says that she does not particularly like it, but it depends because some kids have real reasons. She says that it is okay for students to have their phone out in class if “they feel the teacher doesn’t make sense,” but it is not okay when it is being used just to avoid the work or for a distraction. Unlike Reese and Anissa though, Hayaa says that the phone rule “doesn’t have anything to do with cyber bullying because that’s outside of school,” and “people usually record when we are allowed to have our phones out,” but she said it does have some effect. She also said that teachers should be better at checking the phone pouches because it is not fair that some people have them out and others do not. Hayaa brings up a good point here that no one else says, and most of her answers are pretty different from Anissa and Reese.

Overall, two thirds of the students I interviewed did not support the phone rule, but they all agreed that there are benefits to it, and it is pretty necessary to prevent things like recording, cheating, and getting distracted during class. Obviously, three students do not speak for the whole grade, but they did bring up some good points that, as a student, I can say are pretty good, popular opinions. So, what do you think about this rule? Do you support it?