THE PHONES here at Granger have seemingly been a problem, but as of right now, that problem seems to have lessened (though it hasn’t gone away). That doesn’t seem to be due to the school pouches that students put their phones in. According to some students, the phone pouches have been a big waste. I think it really is a BIG WASTE for the school and the students.

I don’t know the exact amount spent on these pouches. Still, it was substantial, and it’s disappointing that so many resources were allocated to something that didn’t significantly help students’ phone problems. In class, you’ll still see one or two students with their phones out. For the most part, students don’t have their phones out during instructional time. This is because the students who didn’t have their phones out either didn’t bring them out before the big ban or simply followed the rule and put them away after the ban.

Students who put their phones away mostly don’t even use the pouches; they set their phones to silent and put them in their backpacks or bags. The pouches students are given have either been thrown out, lost, left in their bags, or left at home. The pouches have become nothing more than a paperweight for students. A small group of students uses the pouches, while most do not.

The students have long since adapted to the ‘no phones in class’ policy and have (mostly) been following that rule.

The pouches have felt like a quiet, non-mandatory rule, just like a fart in the wind. Granger students, and probably some teachers, simply do not care about the pouches unless a really strict rule is made (which most likely won’t be). The phone pouches don’t help with students’ phone addiction either. It only makes a student wait to resume their screen time instead of showing them control of their phone usage. This only makes students with phone problems worse, as they become more and more dependent on it.

The pouches are so easy to fake as well. Students have used dummy phones to fake their phones in the pouches, which can be easily checked if teachers ask the students to do so. A different effort has outshone the pouches themselves. Granger High already took the effort to resolve the “students in the halls” problem. A big problem-solver here at Granger was the PIT STOP, which addressed phone use more than the pouches, which were designed specifically for the phones. Phone addictions have and (most likely) will always be a problem for Screenagers, but the phone pouches are far from a helpful solution and have been a big waste of resources.