Hello friends,

Hello, it’s week 4 for the Steemit Challenge. Let us hope that all of you have enjoyed the trip so far. It has become a motivating and informative process for us, the organizers, and for each of those, who have stood up with considerate and strong debates.

“Should the use of mobile phones be banned in schools?”. Deal.

_source

I am about to tell you why I am for this decision.

---

The Distraction that Quietly Consumes Focus’.

Mobile phones, despite being a big technological achievement, are double edged when they are brought into the classroom. They are indeed, the number one source of distraction among students nowadays. From sending the SMSes to friends during lecture hours to attempting scrolling on social media through the desks, phones distract students from studies.

For example, one study done by London School of Economics found that where schools banned the use of cell phones marked an increase in student performance in that particular school by 6.4%. This was especially the case with low performers. An immediate negative effect of owning a smartphone is that even when it is not in use it distracts from concentration and decreases the working memory. This is referred to as *brain drain effect.

With our focus being tugged back and forth between the classroom and the screen where how can learning actually happen?

Recognising that school smartphone policies vary in detail, our forthcoming report concludes that restrictions do benefit learning, particularly for those students who struggle most. source

_{Google SS}

A Sneak Peek into the Real World – The Ugly Side of Screens

Netflix’s thrilling series Adolescence gives a disturbing depiction of the way young minds are affected by smartphones. It reveals the story of Jacob, a 13 years old boy who gets infected with violent content and peer pressure through his phone. This kind of stuff starts innocently, becoming emotional trauma and cyber bullying and eventually culminating in a tragic end.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, went ahead to urge schools to screen Adolescence so as to help create awareness of the effects of unmitigated mobile phone use. The show is a reflection of the scuffles the majority of teens are hiding in their life. addiction, comparisons and a deterioration of mental health – all aggravated by unfiltered access to the online world.

Should we let such threats move around schools corridors freely?

---

Mental Health Matters

The excessive use of smartphones is associated with depression, anxiety, bad sleep, and low self-esteem in teenagers. School is supposed to be safe – physically and emotionally. A prohibition of phones during the school hours would enable students to engage with real-life connections, mindfulness, emotional regulation among other things.

We are not only teaching math and grammar, we are forming future adults. And we are held responsible for chipping down the toxic noise in the online world during the most impressionable years of their lives.

---

Conclusion: For Growth, We Must Unplug

The mobile phone is not evil- it is just a tool. However, as any tool, their worth depends on their use and the time of it. In the schools, they tend to do more harm than good. From distraction to cheating or to mental deterioration, the cost is definitely too high to take the risk.

Let’s unchain students from a screen so that they can think, interact, and learn. Education calls for attention – attention needs space. I say this with conviction:

The use of mobile phones ought to be banned in schools.
Deal.

---

---

I would like to invite @solperez, @fjjrg and @mdkamran99 to take part in the challenge.

---

Thanks for reading, Steemians!

Regards
artist1111