By Mack Callahan, Retired Political Reporter Turned Professional Eye-Roller
Well, folks, it’s finally happened—Topeka-area schools have decided to ban cell phones during the school day. That’s right: no texting in class, no TikTok in the hallway, and no Snapchatting your lunch tray to prove you survived cafeteria “pizza day.”
The official reason? “Improved focus and reduced distractions.” The unofficial reason? Probably that teachers are tired of competing with a device that can summon a thousand cat videos faster than a kid can remember the Pythagorean theorem.
I get it—when I was in school, distractions were simpler. You passed notes, you doodled on your desk, maybe you stared out the window until the bell rang. But now? The average seventh grader’s attention span lasts about three seconds before they’re checking to see if someone liked the picture of their dog wearing sunglasses.
Of course, the parents are split. Some are cheering—“Finally! Maybe my kid will learn long division instead of Fortnite strategies.” Others are panicking—“But how will I know if little Brayden finishes his math test without immediate live updates??”
The district says students can use their phones before and after school, which in teenage years is like telling a smoker they can have a cigarette only while skydiving.
Will it work? Hard to say. But I’ll give them this: in a world where every argument devolves into someone Googling the answer mid-sentence, maybe a few hours of enforced unplugging won’t kill ‘em.
And hey, if kids really need to communicate during the day, they can always pass an old-fashioned note:
“u ok? y/n”
“no. the mashed potatoes were weird.”
Some traditions never die.
