Cellphone Ban - What's changed in Hamber Classrooms?

Photo Credit: CBC

In January, Premier David Eby announced the implementation of cell phone restrictions in all BC schools at the beginning of the 2024–2025 school year. The policy states that school boards must adopt multiple regulations restricting the use of personal digital devices in their codes of conduct. But after nearly two months under the ban, has anything actually changed? 

Most Hamber students agree that little has changed. Mason Liu (10) attributes this to how rules differ based on classrooms. “Most teachers that actually care about this ban were the ones that already had bans in place,” Liu said.

Skylan Busse (10) agrees, adding that none of her teachers have cracked down on phone usage. “I can still use my phone, not quite whenever I want, but it’s the same as last year.” 

The root issue is the language of the province’s original statement, according to Mr. M. Lenko (Mathematics), who says “half measures just lead to cracks.”

Mr. Lenko believes that a full ban, with phones required to be in lockers at all times, is the only way to fix the phone problem, adding that if “anything short of that [is implemented] the kids have their phones with them and will find a way to use them.”

While the province seeks to crack down on phone usage, Hamber students aren’t bothered by the lack of enforcement. Liu understands why the ban was put in place, but it hasn’t affected him. “I don’t go on my phone in class anyway, and I can still go on my phone during lunch,” he said. 

Jayden Tan (9) agrees. “The ban hasn’t really done much, except in classrooms where teachers prohibit phones a little more,” he shared, adding that the ban has not affected his learning. 

Expecting the ban would create a bigger impact, Busse said that she’s “honestly okay with how [the ban] turned out,” and stated that she “doesn’t have any changes in mind.” Liu is in agreement, and explained that he still wants teachers to let students use their phones. He believes that a ban wouldn’t make much of an impact anyway. “People will just substitute using their phones for doodling,” adding that “either way they don’t listen.”

Mr. Lenko is more concerned about the lack of enforcement of the ban. “If I was in charge of it and that was my goal – to get cell phones out of classrooms – then they would go into lockers,” Mr. Lenko explained, adding that if caught in class, a phone would be confiscated for the remainder of the block.

Mr. Lenko is one of the teachers that had a classroom phone policy before the ban, but this year he’s become more on top of it, especially in his junior-grade classes. “I’m more comfortable with my Grade 12s being on their phones after we’re done working than my Grade 8s,” he said. 

He’s noticed that so far, his grade 8 students have been much more receptive to the new cell phone rules. Still, he says, the most recent policy doesn’t go far enough. “If you want to take action on phones, you go all the way.”