Phones and social media are major distractions, especially in the life of students. This school year, Pascack Hills has decided to implement Parent Faculty Association (PFA) funded phone holders in every classroom. The purpose of the holders is to avoid distractions and allow students to interact with their peers more. Teachers collectively agree that phone holders benefit students, while the high schoolers beg to differ.

After observing the success of phone holders, teachers have been more strictly enforcing the policy this school year. In an interview with Hills Principal Timothy Wieland, he explained how and why phone pockets can be found in every classroom.

“For me, it’s a tremendous distraction, so I imagine for students it might be the same,” he said, “Some very different teacher personalities and teaching styles had them in different classrooms but each of those teachers… referenced it being almost like a game changer.”

They don’t have to worry about students being distracted and telling them to put their phones away. Teachers also found that students were interacting more on a social level and engaging more in the class.

Dr. Alexandra Pfleging, an English teacher at Hills, commented on how phones affect students in their daily life and why she appreciates having the phone pockets in her classroom. She also agreed with the universal school practice of having these pockets.

She mentioned that having access to phones at all times has degraded student’s social skills and makes teenagers unable to hold a conversation.

“[Phone holders are] making so students are less distracted and more in the moment, but this all stops when the class ends,” she said.

Overall, the teachers and staff are all in favor of using the phone pockets, as it creates less distractions in class and allows students to interact with their peers. But, what about the students?

A survey was sent out to students of Pascack Hills regarding their opinions on the phone holders and how phones affect their lives.

According to the survey, most students spend about 3-5 hours a day on their phones. The majority of students say that their phones sometimes distract them while doing school work, but that they feel like phone holders do not benefit their performance or work ethic in school.

“I prefer having my phone with me especially if I am waiting for a text or something important, but when it is in the holder, I am almost more distracted thinking about it,” said Maddie Weaver.

Students tend to have a different perspective on having to put their phones away. They argue that if phones were accessible to them during class, they would not be using it instead of doing work – they just feel more comfortable having phones with them.

Both students and teachers agree that phones can be a disturbance and obstruction of learning and working. But only teachers believe that the phone holders help with these distractions. Most students say that the phone pockets do not benefit them.