Kang Jae-woo

By Kang Jae-woo

The age of digital machines has arrived. There are such machines everywhere, in houses, buildings, cars and streets. Above all, they are getting smarter every day.

People these days cannot live without the convenience of their digital devices. Especially, cell phones have become a must-have item for everyone.

Even little children start owning cell phones from kindergarten. But as much as the cell phones give convenience, they also exert a bad influence upon children and teens. I think cell phones should not be allowed at schools.

First of all, cell phones harm people's health. They radiate electromagnetic waves which are bad for the brain. In a study, the electric sounds damage the acoustic nerves and the brightly-lit screen damages the optic nerves.

When young people are concerned, the damage is even more serious. By the time they become grown-ups, they will have bad eyesight and hearing defect. The schools should ban cell phones to shorten the time teens spend on them phones.

Also, cell phones prevent students from concentrating on their studies. Text messages, cell phone games, phone calls, phone cameras all stop students from concentrating. For example, sending text messages is the most common action students do with their phones during classes. However, this is also very disturbing because students have to wait for a reply. Students concentrate on whether the phone is vibrating or not instead of their books.

Cell phones not only disturb the user itself but also disturb others nearby. Phone calls and vibrations in the middle of the class interrupt the progress of the class, and prevent others from concentrating. During recess, students would rather play with new games on their cell phones rather than relax and prepare for the next class.

Phones also disturb teachers. When they notice students focusing on their phones during class, they lose enthusiasm to teach. In other words, cell phones annoy everyone.

In certain cases, there might be some students who need their teacher's phone to communicate. The pay phone is always usable as well. In very special cases, they can possess a phone with the approval of the school with proper reasons. These kinds of cases are always solvable. However, the free use of cell phones disturbs the order at schools.

To sum up, cell phones disrupt students from focusing on studies. Not only the students themselves but also people around them are bothered. Also, they damage young students' health. We can take care of special cases or emergencies that require cell phones by allowing exceptions but we should ban cell phones in schools because they are unnecessary for students and have a bad influence on them.

The writer is a second-year student at Kangwon Science High School.