Students at Delta Secondary have been slightly less connected this year.
Four popular apps — Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Netflix — have been banned from the Wi-Fi network much to the chagrin of students at the Ladner high school.
Principal Jeanette Beaulieu said the move was made in order to free up Wi-Fi capacity for teachers, who had been complaining about the network being particularly slow.
Beaulieu and the rest of the administrators also hope the move will keep students off their phones while they’re in class.
“We tried it for a bit last year and other schools are doing it,” she said.
Despite the school’s efforts, Beaulieu recognizes students can still access the apps by extending the school’s private network to a public network or by using cellular data.
“If students want to use these apps, they will use them,” she said.
The general consensus among students is that not a lot has changed when it comes to cell phone use, although it is more of a hassle to access the apps.
“I think there’s less (phone use) because they (students) have to use their data now,” said social studies teacher John Powell when asked about the topic.
In terms of the primary reason the change was made, none of the teachers asked have noticed any change in the network’s speed.
Daniel Feldman is a Delta Secondary student doing work experience at the Optimist.
