Even though Indiana passed a law last year that banned phone use during school instructional time, it has recently become a much more relevant issue, as teachers are more diligently managing students’ use of phones this year.

History teacher Matt Norris said that he doesn’t think it’s “realistic to tell kids to never be on their phone” because it can be counterproductive; sometimes students are dealing with things that are “more important to them” than school that require phone use.

Christina Aducci, an English teacher, thinks that “the intent of the law and the rules are excellent and really well intentioned,” but thinks we should still recognize the usefulness of phones in certain educational situations.

A positive outcome of the law, as noticed by Spanish teacher Shelby Batten, is that more students are reading again. “Students will just, instead of picking up their phones…get out of the book and read, and I love to see that.”