Should Cell Phones be Banned from Classrooms?

I believe cell phones should be banned from classrooms as a normal routine. Besides the fact that most students do not have internet capable cellphones, they already spend too much time sending senseless text messages and exchanging meaningless phone calls. As a tool, they need to remain toys for after school use. John Allen (2007/2008) correctly notes “students would use them for purposes other than educational.” This is increasingly a problem as students get more clever about texting between and during classes.
In the supportive position, Liz Kolb points out various applications that can be applied to cell phone use in learning. She cites audio and video recording capabilities as useful classroom tools. All I can imagine is potential for abuse, expecially considering some of the ways these tools are being used for activities such as sexting. There may be some occasions, such as taking pictures on a field trip, but I think these opportunities would be limited and permission to carry cell phones should be restricted to those types of activities only.
It is important for educators to employ technology in creating and presenting lessons and there are a multitude of examples of great new applications that students need to learn. Cell phone use is just not one of them, not because cell phones do not have good capabilities, but because they have too much capability which can be put to the wrong uses.

Reference

Allen, J. (2007/2008, December/January). Should Cell Phones be Banned from Classrooms? Learning and Leading with Technology , pp. 8-9.