You can barely keep your eyes from it as it sits there and buzzes with notifications. Some believe it’s a distraction, and others believe it’s an advantage. Using it during class can have unpleasant consequences if it’s not for an educational purpose. But does your phone really help your learning or distract you from your teachers’ lessons?

Being allowed to use your phone during class really depends if it’ll be for educational use or not. Assistant principal Mr. Zabala said that phones are allowed if they are being used to help class purposes. “But if used incorrectly, they can become a distraction,” he said.

If not for an educational purpose, the use of your phone during class can have many unpleasant consequences. “If students use them for other purposes, I will usually give a warning. If they continue to disrespect my learning environment, then I will take it and give it back during lunch,” said English teacher Ms. Berrios.

Mr. Zabala also mentioned that teachers can send the phones they’ve taken away to the office and have the students’ parents pick them up. But if the student continues to get his or her phone taken away, it would lead to Indoor Suspension (CSI).

On a positive note, smart phones allow students to open different types of apps that make use of the internet. Senior Kevin David said, “Everybody is always down to play Kahoot. It makes it a competition and who doesn’t like answering trivia questions?”

We’ve all had that moment where the teacher asks for the definition of a word and nobody knows it. “In my English class freshman year, I had to do vocabulary and, thank God for my phone, I was able to google the definition of every word,” said sophomore Lianet Valdes.

Trust is such a big word when it has to do with our phones. Will you actually sit there and only use it for an educational purpose? “I believe I can be trusted to only use my phone for educational purposes during class because it’s my grade that’s at stake,” said sophomore Pamela Cardoza.

On the other hand, senior Jenser Salazar said that he can’t be trusted to only use his phone for educational purposes. “I’ll drift off onto social media or quickly reply to a text message,” he commented.