Potomac Falls has adopted a new initiative this year known as “Bring Your Own Technology,” or BYOT. This has made a lot of students’ and teachers’ lives a lot easier now that they have open access to the internet, without the struggle of wasting data or waiting five minutes for a website to load because of the slow Wi-Fi.

  “Last year I was constantly going over my data limit because I was on my phone a lot during the school day; I was on Twitter, researching on the internet, playing Kahoot and doing other stuff. It’s beneficial because I can get a lot done on my iPad or phone without having to worry about data,” said sophomore Ethan Fuller.

 The access to an open Wi-Fi connection can certainly be beneficial for students now that they are able to use their laptops or iPads rather than just their cell phones, but students are also a lot more distracted being able to scroll through Twitter or Instagram during class.

 “It can be distracting if I get a notification during class because I am tempted to check my phone and no longer pay attention [in class],” said freshman Matt Curtis, who also agrees that being able to use his phone can be beneficial.

 FLEX is now a 90 minute block of sustained silent work and it has lead students trying to get as much homework done as they can during the school day.

 “I usually do my homework in FLEX or right when I get home from school, so I can get it out of the way and not have to worry about it later that night. I almost always bring my laptop to school so I can easily type up my homework, have access to the internet for research or schedule things for the soccer team I coach. It makes my life a lot easier,” said senior Madison Patrick.

 On the other hand though, the new BYOT policy has not affected some students. Curtis does not usually bring another device to school to help him with his homework or do any schoolwork online. Most of the teachers in the school still seem to get laptops or the necessary supplies they need for the lessons they have planned.

 “Most of my homework is done on paper. It’s a lot easier for me to do when the assignments are tangible and I’m able to actually write things down and keep them organized in binders, so BYOT hasn’t really changed things for me. My teachers always get laptops for us, but say that we are always able to bring our devices if we want to,” said Curtis.

 Thanks to the new initiative, students seem to be able to get a lot more done within the school day, instead of waiting until they get home to type up their paper, print out assignments, do research and more.

 “Being able to use electronic devices in school has been so beneficial because you can do most things in your classes on the computer instead of having to keep all the papers you are given in class,” said Patrick.