Entre uso e regulamentação: o celular na dinâmica escolar pelo olhar de estudantes e professores.

Abstract

This study examines the perspectives of students and teachers in elementary and secondary education on the impacts of cell phone use and bans in the school environment, considering their implications for pedagogical, social, and professional experiences. Set against the backdrop of the transformations brought about by digital culture, the study seeks to understand the role of cell phones as a mediating factor in relationships within the daily school life and in the learning process. The methodology combines an extensive literature review with the collection of qualitative data, including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted with students and teachers. The analysis links participants’ statements to the educational debate on digital technologies and the challenges posed by their presence in the school context. The results indicate that, although students and teachers recognize that reducing screen time would contribute to improvements in quality of life and interpersonal relationships, both perceive themselves as dependent on the use of these devices, highlighting that the cell phone plays a strong role as an identity prosthesis and that recognition of the benefits of disconnection does not translate into effective behavioral change. It was also found that there is a pedagogical use by default, in which the device compensates for the precarious state of public infrastructure, and that the integration of the device into teaching work has increased algorithmic surveillance and the platformization of daily routines. It can therefore be concluded that the central issue does not lie in the presence or absence of cell phones in schools, but in the way contemporary society has shaped its relationship with digital technologies. The development of a healthier and more democratic digital culture depends on shared responsibility among families, schools, and the government. It is the government’s responsibility to critically monitor the social impacts of the attention economy designed to capture and retain users’ focus and to promote public policies that prioritize collective well-being, without this effort resulting in the expansion of surveillance mechanisms, platformization, and the precariousness of teaching work. Families and schools, in turn, must work in coordination to educate individuals capable of developing balanced habits and a critical understanding of the uses of digital technologies. In this context, educational policies must take on the urgent role of facilitating the development of a critical, ethical, and humane relationship with new technologies.