LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — A bill in the Nebraska Legislature aims at helping kids in school, by taking away their phones.
Lynette Sorentino, a productivity and time management coach, says many of us including kids have "addicted device disorder," describing people as constantly on their phones and that kids send thousands of texts per month.
“Every time we get on our devices it becomes a dopamine effect. That’s why they’re saying 'I’m bored,' cause they’re on their phones all the time,” Sorentino said.
To try and slow this trend down, Sen. Ben Hansen is hoping to make a state law that would ban using cell phones in Nebraska classrooms.
He says he’s heard from teachers of the detrimental effects of cell phones in school.
“Students don’t pay attention, they miss instruction and they distract others,” said Hansen.
His bill would ban cell phones during instruction, allowing for students to bring them into the classroom to put them into a labeled storage container.
It got the support of Diane Wigert, a teacher who was filmed by a student, who then manipulated a cell phone video that made her look bad.
“Once a video went viral, my life and the life of my family members became a nightmare. My personal safety, the safety of family members and even the safety of some of my colleagues was in peril,” said Wigert.
But others like Ashley Tobias were neutral on the bill, because it does that very thing: it prohibits students from filming teachers. She says her son filmed a teacher misbehaving.
“Without this video proof, I would not have been able to give anything concrete to the principal. Which later did result in disciplinary action for the staff,” said Tobias.
Tobias said one way to alleviate her concern would be to bring cameras into classrooms — something an Iowa legislator tried to pass this year.
“If we regulate cell phone usage on the student side. We need to talk about putting cameras in the classroom so they can know what’s going on,” said Tobias.
The only formal opponent to the bill was the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Auburn Board of Education member Beth Kearns Krause says it adds confusion and bureaucracy and that schools should each make the decision on their own.
“We have found that simple bans and other prohibitions are generally not effective and lead to our staff spending an inordinate amount of time or effort being 'phone cops,' ” said Kearns Krause.
The bill allows cell phones to be taken out in class if an emergency situation occurs, which alleviated concerns for some.
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