THE ECHO

By Grace Otey // Managing Editor

Indiana schools have entered a new era, one without smartphones and Bluetooth. In the wake of devastation and outrage, students have become resourceful. They’ve replaced their wireless communication devices (WCD’s) with previously obsolete technology.

Avon High School is now seeing a comeback in digital cameras and MP3 players. Students may not have their phones, but they are doing their best to get around that.

Junior Izzy Caylor is one of these students. When she heard about the phone ban, she was not willing to give up her music. So, she asked her dad for a solution.

“He pulled it out of our junk drawer a couple weeks ago when I brought it up at dinner at the beginning of the school year,” said Caylor.

There are a few challenges that come with this replacement. Caylor says that because the MP3 player she uses is so old, it can be difficult to upload music.

“My MP3 player is over 20 years old, and it has a weird way of getting music onto it,” said Caylor. “All music is loaded onto an SD card, and the only way you can get music onto that is if you copy it over from a CD, which my dad did; therefore, most of the music that is on my MP3 player is not music I would’ve picked myself, but it’s music my dad would’ve listened to 20-plus years ago.”

However, there is a way around this inconvenience. Some students favor the use of modern MP3 players. Micheal Ajose, senior, is one of these teens. He appreciates the ease of the newer MP3 players.

“Mine was made very recently; it was released May of this year and I bought it from Amazon,” said Ajose. “There wasn’t really a learning curve since it’s just transferring files around.”

Taylor Thomas, a sophomore, also uses a newer model MP3 player and offered more insight on the process.

“I use a third-party app, and I take music from Spotify. You just change, download, and get,” Thomas said.

MP3 players have been effective alternatives to smart phones, but when given the chance, students would rather have their phones.

“No, I would not continue to use an MP3 player if the phone ban was lifted because I can pick from a greater variety of music at will,” said Caylor. “My personal collection is like zero, and my parents have a pretty big collection, but it’s mostly 80s-90s rock.”