An Iowa school system is considering jamming student phones.

The FTC did say such jamming equipment wasn’t legal, but that doesn’t matter. Student’s are disobeying the rules and using their phones, so we’re just going to jam them.

Trouble is, the jamming equipment isn’t discriminatory. So I trust that teacher and administrator phones would also be jammed. Plus, any parent or other visitor to the school, their phones would be jammed. How far would the jamming signals go? Could someone driving by the school be infringed upon?

The school system says they’ll disable the system during an emergency.

Oh yeah, I’d like to see that happen.

Quick! The school is burning down! Turn off the jamming system so people can call the fire department!

Oh noes! An active shooter situation! Turn off the jamming system! Vital seconds were already lost, lives were already lost as a result… and oh the lawsuit that will probably ensue.

Look. I understand it’s bothersome that teenagers have no self-control and keep using their phones. Welcome to teenagers, and welcome to trying to teach them greater responsibility. But such blanket measures are not going to solve the problem; in fact, they’re only going to create bigger problems.