The Stupid Stupid Texas Cellphone Ban

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As some of you may have heard, the great state of Texas, where TheTechBoy Media is based out of, has essentially banned cellphones in public schools. TheTechBoy Media is a teen-first brand, declaring parental control applications “essentially malware,” calling privacy/teen phones “rip-offs and scams,” and forging into the teen media space. It is the position of TheTechBoy Media that this ban is a stupid, stupid law.

    The ban essentially bans cellphones in school full stop, with limited health and safety exceptions that we will not be covering. According to the text of the bill, which in a first draft almost banned cellphones at football games (which is not very Texan of them), this ban does not just apply to “smartphones” but “telephone, cell phone such as a smartphone or flip phone, tablet, smartwatch, radio device, paging device, or any other electronic [telecommunications] device capable of telecommunication or digital communication.” 

    This is severe overreach in multiple ways. First of all, this bill doesn’t just ban cellphones — it bans a litany of devices, essentially forcing students to use the government-provided laptops and Chromebooks. However, these devices are often trash and can be found in surplus on eBay for $50. The screens are low resolution, the keyboards are horrible, they are laggy and slow. While mandating everyone has the “same learning experience” sounds nice in legalese and in a presentation, in practice that is communism, and last time I checked, the United States of America and the great state of Texas are NOT a communist country. If people can afford better technology to learn better, why should the state stand in the way? 

    Secondly, this bill also bans cellphones (and Cybikos, tablets, walkie-talkies, and a freaking landline) at lunchtime… which… WHY??? WHYYYYY???? As one commenter succinctly put it: “What do they think we are going to cheat on — AP lunch?” Who is dying? Why must cellphones be banned at lunch? When I went to school and had a cellphone, did it prevent me from talking to people? No. No, it did not. And quite frankly, when I was in public school, I would not want to talk to some of those people anyway. I would listen to podcasts on my phone, I wrote blog articles for the day on my phone, I would read news articles, books, and the Bible on my phone. And most famously, I taped my November 9th, 2022 election press conference on my phone. A phone is a black box to the digital world, it in and of itself is not evil and good can be done with it, even by a child. 

    For kids who do not have blogs or spy agencies or political campaigns, a phone is still an invaluable tool as well — you can check your schedule while walking, chat with friends in the school, check in with your parents, etc. Why must students’ only time of leisure be signed away with the stroke of a pen? I am for banning cellphones in the classroom, but honestly, who is hurt by its use at lunch or in passing periods?

    Other detractors of this bill have brought up safety, referring to school shootings as a reason why teens should have cellphones in school. However, this is a very rare and unlikely occurrence; safety is still a factor, especially in larger schools. When I was in public school, I would not willingly step foot in a bathroom without a phone — it’s not safe. You could get beat up, people in the locker rooms beat each other’s behinds with shirts, shorts, and towels. People vape and steal. Fights occur. And now you have no way to document it, no way to call for help — all because we got signed back to the Stone Age.

    Lastly, from a logistic point of view, this is utterly insane. Everything is bigger in Texas, including the schools. Bellaire High School in Houston has over 3,000 students enrolled, Woodland HS has almost 4.5k students, and the average High School in HISD has over 1,000 students enrolled. Imagine the lines kids will have to stand in to get their phones after school — the checkout times will be insane, and they can’t tell their parents they are running late because they don’t have phones. 

    Across HISD, $25 MILLION worth of personal electronics are being stored somewhere in a high school… do you really trust HISD to keep track of $25 million worth of tech? Do you trust any school to not mix up a phone not even once? Then you have the Babysitters Club all over again… or worse, an information breach — and you know what I said about that: the free state of the school is at stake. Texas is one of the most free states in the Union — let’s keep it that way. God bless, and Tech Talk To You Later!!!

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