In Ohio’s 136th General Assembly, one particular legislation’s revision stood out as being especially influential to the state’s students. Bill 158 was passed by the Senate in a 30-2 ruling, revising sections 3313.753 and 5502.262 of Ohio’s code, which aim to prohibit student cellular usage within publicly funded schools. The total ban of phone usage in school, outside of medical and emergency situations, is required to be adopted in Ohio educational institutions by Jan 1, 2026.
This bill is one of many being proposed in various states by a bi-partisian effort to reduce social media usage within schools. This is meant to create a safe space of learning uninterrupted by addicting algorithms.
The political sentiment for this in Ohio comes from the declining trend of state test scores in post-pandemic years. It is no question that the quarantine had a damaging effect on the performance of Ohio’s students. According to ohiobythenumbers, NAEP proficiency in fourth and eighth grade students have dropped to the point that decades of positive growth were lost in a couple of years.
Many believe that the excessive use of phones was responsible for this reduction.
“Phones were a major issue, [Some] teachers would have a phone policy and others would allow phones out in their classrooms before, so this [kind of] takes that out of their hands,” history teacher Nathan Weakland said.
Due to this, the public opinion on banning phones during class is mostly parallel to the legislative body. However, this changes when talking about a full-day ban as seen with Bill 158.
“I think that the implementation of the total phone ban has been an abuse of power, and that the ban during lunch is ridiculous,” senior Joshua Blank said. “I literally can’t see any reason why it is effective.”
Others have a similar view on a full day ban.
“It will be interesting to see with the phone ban specifically if the governor changes or alters it,” Weakland said. “Having the one last year where it was [that] you could use it at lunch and in between classes and study halls, non academic environments, I think that was a better call for it.”
Some at Hayes view this differently.
“I feel like it’s keeping kids locked in,” senior Corbin Bulwinkle said. “Some of the lower level kids get boosted, but it doesn’t affect the advanced kids, so I don’t think that it should be applied in AP classes.”
Questions have also been raised about whether or not the internet can be used instead to successfully aid the studies of students. This has been seen with top universities such as Ohio State embracing AI as a learning tool. This sentiment has begun to trickle down to the high school level.
“I don’t think that social media usage [and] phone usage has really affected the learning of Hayes students that much, and can even improve learning when used responsibly,” Blank said.
This feeling is mirrored by some Hayes staff.
“You have to push into it, I think you have to adapt it to the structure of what’s around, we should be teaching high school kids how to use AI in a professional, respectful, better manner,” Weakland said. “Not just to cheat, but how to use it to enhance their learning.”
“If we send kids off in a high school level without any AI instruction then it’s [Kinda] like the wild wild west, they’re just gonna go out not knowing how to use it appropriately,” Weakland said.
The culmination of many factors have pushed phone usage into Ohio’s public debate. It is a complicated topic that previous generations have never had to deal with. The internet has proven to be both a gift and a curse to American public education.
Overall, this legislation will be enormously impactful on Ohio’s youth. It brings up the debate if academics should embrace the internet as a learning tool, or move away from it to more traditional forms of learning. The effectiveness of Bill 158 will be revealed over time as state test scores improve or continue in their decline.
