They're the bane of grade school teachers' existence across the country - smartphones in the hands of students - but very few schools have banned or limited their use.
Any endeavor to remove the distracting tech from classrooms is met with pushback from parents who say they need to have constant contact with their children.
So the question is - are they a necessary evil or simply a terrible distraction?
The Washington Post published an editorial on the issue, calling for schools to ban smartphones. Christine Emba, a member of the Post's editorial board and author of the column, told KNX News the parents' rationale is flawed.
"It seems very plausible that any student, if they needed to get in contact with their parent for a legitimate reason, could go to the school office as students have done for years," she said.
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As for the legitimate fear of a shooting on school grounds, Emba and the editorial board say, for the most part, "It's safer for students to focus on their surroundings during a crisis, not devices. The better solution to this tragic dilemma is prevent shootings in the first place with common-sense gun control policies."
The article goes as far as to say that smartphones have an "almost entirely negative impact" in educational settings, pointing out that a study across 14 countries found, "The mere presence of a mobile phone nearby was enough to distract students from learning."
Amba said the phones also detract from other valuable aspects of school outside the classroom - between classes, she said, students often spend their time catching up on social media rather than interacting with classmates.
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