During my three years at Boulder High, I have seen the cell phone policy continuously change and evolve. At the start of my freshman year, the policy was relatively relaxed. Have your phone away as soon as class starts, and no trouble will come your way. The punishments were minimal, and thus people largely ignored the rule. Whether students took their phones out during class, or never put their phones away in the first place, it was clear that the cell phone policy needed to change.

To combat the issue of increased cell phone usage in the classroom, Boulder High came up with a new rule. This new rule states that students must have their cell phones put away before entering the classroom. While I don’t agree with all of Boulder High’s policies one hundred percent of the time, this new policy might not be as bad as everyone thinks.

I, like most teenagers, enjoy using my phone. However there is a time and place for cell phone use. That place is not in the classroom; that time is not during class. As much as I want to check my Snapchat, class isn’t designed for that. High school is about teaching us the basic knowledge and skills needed to succeed in life. It’s hard to concentrate on this while I’m scrolling through my Twitter timeline.

I know it seems like I’m going against my fellow students, but I think this phone policy is really in the best interests of everyone. I know I cave really quickly into temptation. It’s really easy to get distracted by my phone. If I’m already sitting in class, it’ll take that much more energy to take my attention away from my phone and to my teacher. I have almost no self control. This new phone policy takes all the temptation out of it. My phone is put away before entering class. I take a minute or two to get all my stuff out. Class begins.

Do I really need to cling to my phone the remaining two minutes of passing period? That Tweet, that Snapchat, that new Instagram picture from Kylie Jenner are really not that important. Chances are they’ll still be there at lunch.

Basically the new phone policy is not your enemy. It may seem like an inconvenience, putting your phone away before class, but it’s just Boulder High’s way of maximizing your learning. You can’t fault them for that right?