Students at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, grabbed out their iPhones in fear as gunfire erupted early on Wednesday morning. They informed their relatives they could hear gunshots, they were afraid, and they loved them through desperate texts they thought would be their last.
Following the incident, which left nine people injured in addition to two instructors and two kids dead, screenshots of their texts went viral on social media. The messages have rekindled a long-standing argument about whether or not schools should permit smartphones, which can be a significant distraction in the classroom but are indispensable in an emergency?
Empirical studies have demonstrated the deleterious effects of cellphones, especially on young people. Teens’ poor sleep, cyberbullying, and low body esteem have all been linked to phones and their addicting social media platforms.
According to a Common Sense Media survey from 2023, teenagers are inundated with notifications from their smartphones—on average, they receive 237 alerts per day, of which over 25% come in during the school day.
According to Education Week, at least 13 states have implemented rules or passed legislation that forbid or restrict students’ use of cellphones in class, or they advise local districts to implement their own limitations. Both big and small school districts have put in place rules restricting or banning the use of cellphones. An increasing number of them utilize magnetically locked pouches to lock up the gadgets, keeping students from being tempted to check them when they should be studying.
According to a National Parents Union study of more than 1,500 parents of K–12 public school students conducted in February, the main reason parents say they want their children to have access to phones at school is so they may contact them in case of emergency.
However, deadly shootings at schools are quite uncommon. Furthermore, phones “can actually detract from the safety of students,” according to Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm that specializes in school security and emergency preparedness training. Ken understands that parents may want to contact their kids in the event of an emergency or shots being fired.
“If 20 children are texting, calling parents, or livestreaming in a classroom, they are not fully paying attention to adult directions and are not fully situationally aware of things they may need to do quickly to save their lives,” the speaker added. “You have a few seconds to relocate and follow instructions.”
According to him, phones might also pose other risks. Their beeping or ringing could attract unwelcome attention to classes where individuals are attempting to blend in. When a large number of students contact 911 or their homes at the same time, phone networks and the emergency response system may become overloaded. Additionally, if parents rush to the school to check on their child after receiving a concerning SMS, it may cause traffic jams that prevent emergency services from entering or exiting.
Trump said, calling phones more of “an emotional security blanket for parents” than anything that genuinely keeps children safer. “Parents are going to come to the school anyway, but cellphones expedite that flocking to the school,” he added.
Students at Apalachee High School who were unable to get in touch with their parents right away claimed that this added depth of terror they experienced during the incident.
An unidentified adolescent told Atlanta’s WXIA NBC station, “I was shaking, scared, and I didn’t have my phone on me, and I couldn’t communicate with my mom for a half an hour.” I was unaware of what was going to occur since I could hear gunfire directly down the hallway. I’m not sure if it was the final opportunity I had to speak with her.
The student handbook at Apalachee states that as long as students are using their phones for educational purposes, they are allowed to use them in class while being closely supervised by their professors. According to the handbook, students are permitted to “use their electronic devices appropriately” at lunch and in between courses.
The school massacre, according to Kim Whitman, co-founder of the nonprofit advocacy group Phone-Free Schools Movement, was “every parent’s worst nightmare.” However, she stated that attempts to stop such tragedies shouldn’t be directed against school phones.
“We need to talk about school shootings,” she declared. “We cannot permit this to go on. However, they are distinct from phone policies and deal with other matters.
Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University and a psychologist with expertise in helping children recover from catastrophes and other traumas, Robin Gurwitch acknowledged that parents’ desire to be able to talk to their kids during such an incident was understandable.
Nevertheless, she expressed her sadness, saying, “We think that having phones in the classroom is necessary so that students can call and say goodbye or let people know that this is happening when the shooting starts.”
There is space for compromise, according to Amy Klinger, director of programming for the nationwide charity Educator’s School Safety Network.
She cited schools that have chosen to store students’ phones in secured pouches in their classrooms rather than in lockers or other locations within the building. This allows teachers to swiftly unlock the phones if necessary.
“Any parent who receives a text message stating, ‘I’m OK,’ need not experience the trauma that people did on Wednesday,” Klinger stated, addressing the families who did not receive a response from their children at Apalachee right away.
About two hours west of Apalachee, in Marietta, Georgia, middle schools engage in the activity. In the case of an emergency, there is a gadget in every classroom that can be used to unlock the pouches holding telephones when it is safe to do so.
Superintendent of Marietta City Schools Grant Rivera told “NBC Nightly News” earlier this week that the decision was taken following discussions with law enforcement, parents, and educators.
“One of the dynamics they’ve shared with us is that we don’t want students using cellphones as a distraction while they’re paying attention to adult directives and commands that have response protocols in place,” the speaker stated.
It has been said that turning on an emergency alarm system at Apalachee has saved lives. Teachers’ badges have panic buttons that, when used, alert police enforcement to an emergency.
According to Klinger, smartphones are also capable of doing that. However, they are also occasionally employed to document emergencies as opposed to evading them.
“Either it’s a tornado, a vicious dog, a fight, or anything else, you move away from the danger,” she said, adding that “we as a society have not done a very good job of really fighting against that notion.” “You run toward it and you film it, according to our culture.”
