With the last grading period in session for the school year, administrators are working on rules for the next school year, including a few that students may find challenging to adjust to. The most talked about changes for our staff center around two bills, now set to be laws, Senate Bill 78, the Bell-To-Bell Cell Phone Ban, and House Bill 1408, Social Media Restrictions for Minors.
As a media department constantly utilizing social media as part of our communication strategy, we have watched these two bills.
As a staff, we had a lot to say about the hit on our social media platforms and our phones. Senate Bill 78 explains a Bell-To-Bell Cell Phone Ban taking effect in the next school year. This would extend to personal watches, laptops, tablets, and gaming devices. Following June 30, 2028, the ban will extend to all teachers’ cellular devices as well, requiring a school-provided device to communicate. This means next year, students can expect to say goodbye to their phones for the entire day, removing the lunch binge that many high school students have enjoyed.
Our staff had quite a bit to say about cell phones, with 79.2 percent thinking that we should still be able to have our phones at school in some way. On the contrary, 17 percent thought we should have our phones for the same amount of time at school, and 2.8 percent thought we should have them less at school.
With this new law, many staff members fear there will be even more rebellion with students trying to sneak their phones and discipline problems next year, or even a significant increase in students going online to be able to keep their personal devices on hand.
The second bill, with some debate, is House Bill 1408, which creates social media restrictions for minors. This would require children under the age of 16 to get parental consent to be on social media platforms, allow access for parental controls, and limit company content and communication on accounts held by minors.
Our staff does see a need for restrictions for younger users, even though PHS Media runs an Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube account. Social media can be a place where students are
bullied and can even fall victim to online predators. Of our staff surveyed, 66 percent thought Snapchat should have limits, 41.5 percent thought Instagram and TikTok should also have limits, 64.2 percent thought X or Twitter should be restricted, and 47.2 percent thought Facebook and even Twitch should have an age limit.
As a staff, we do not like the idea of a full ban on cell phones during the school day, but we understand the need for social media restrictions to protect younger users from the dangers of social media, including bullying.
