This is getting so annoying. Before the pandemic we’d be in trouble for using our phones at school. If it was inside your pocket and you forgot to switch it off it would be confiscated, your parents had to collect it in person. A friend of mine used to go to a super strict school where he was not even allowed to own one, they said it was antisocial and unhealthy. But now we are back and we are supposed to be carrying our smartphones switched on all the time. We can’t even enter school if the app says we’ve been near anyone who was infected. The other day our PE teacher was denied entry and we didn’t do sports for two weeks.
Some people are lucky because they live close to school or have parents who can drive them to classes. But many of us have to take the bus or the tube. It’s always jam-packed so social distance is impossible. We are often sent home to quarantine and so what’s the point of going back to school.
Before the virus, they made us write an essay on the effects of smartphone addiction on young people. This year they are asking us to write about how apps can keep us safe. As if we didn’t know that all we have to do is write down their fears and act as if they are ours.
By Paulina Yurman | @PYurman13