Yondr pouches has taken over AMS. AMS highschool, never had Yondr pouches until this school year. They sent an email informing all students that once you walk through the door your phone will be placed in a pouch from 8:32am to 3:05pm. Most kids do not like or agree with the new rule, but who would? According to AP Roussi, and Head Dean Oppon, The Board of Education says that test results coming back from schools are very low because all kids do is focus on their phones, so they made a rule stating that all schools in the State of New York should have Yondr pouches no doubt. Will the notorious Yondr actually accomplish what the state wants them to? Can we account for taking students’ most important communication device away from them, for the whole school day? Yondr pouches are a violation of students’ rights. They don’t actually make us focus and they take away our ability to speak to our families when we need to.
Yondr pouches do not remove the distraction. According to our poll of 49 AMS students, 67.4 percent say that they worry more about their phones when they’re in the pouch. A student who voted on the poll said that AMS should teach students how to use their phones more responsibly, instead. I agree with this sentiment because kids need to be prepared to use their phones in the real world without letting it become a distraction.
In addition, taking aways kids’ cell phones affects the students in a negative way because it removes their most effective means of communication with their families. According to our poll, 53.1 percent of the students say that they use their phone the most for communicating with their families. The school claims that parents should call the main office. However if there was ever an emergency parents would not be able to contact their kids directly because they do not have their device. Parents would have to call the main office to contact their child in case of an emergency and that would be a very big chaos, knowing that potentially hundreds of parents are also calling. With only two front-desk attendants, the school does not have the capacity to answer every call.
Some people may argue that Yondr pouches are the correct way to keep kids focused and out of trouble in school, but most kids only focus on their phone when it’s in the Yondr pouch. Yondr can cause students to have anxiety because kids may feel like they are in danger of not being able to speak to their parents. The anxiety students experience when cut off from their source of comfort should not be ignored.
Yondr Pouches are an issue that makes kids feel unsafe and have less communication with their families. Students should join advocacy efforts by writing emails to Mayor Eric Adams, and having their parents call 311 to argue why their children’s phone shouldn’t be in a pouch. This is an issue that affects us so we should motivate people to speak up for what we want.