More often I think to myself, I’m sure glad I grew up when I did. I’m a firm believer that the ’90s were the last great decade. Now, it seems like it was a lifetime ago. The day and age of beepers, rollerblades, payphones, MTV, and really bad Alicia Silverstone movies. It was a pretty fun time.

Over the weekend I was talking to a buddy of mine who is a school teacher in Texas. He was telling me about a student who had their phone taken away in class and the school was planning on keeping the phone until the end of the year because this student had been in trouble with their phone in the past and this was the last straw. So, what’s the big deal about another kid getting their phone confiscated at school? The school was so set on keeping the phone that the mother of the student had to call the police to retrieve her property. After Mom called the cops, they got the phone back.

Calling the cops to get a confiscated phone back is crazy! I’ve heard of some school districts charging a fee to grab your confiscated phone back from the front office, but confiscating for an entire school year is something else. Sure does beat out my confiscated “Resident Evil” magazine that was taken my freshman year of high school. Good ol’ Mrs. Bird, she had it out for me, I could tell early on. I wonder whatever happened to my magazine?

Calling the authorities to get your property back is crazy, but I’ve seen how much of a distraction phones are in schools. When I was working in education, I would spend time at the high schools talking to students about college and nobody would ever listen or pay attention because everyone had their phones out. It was a little frustrating.

Where’s the balance? Don’t ask me! I feel for all the teachers out there trying to do their thing with everything working against them. I’ve heard of NFL football teams having cell phone breaks for players because it’s so much of a distraction.

What do you think, too excessive, or is this the new normal?