You have barely taken two steps out of your classroom and the chaos has already begun.  People pushing and shoving with no common courtesy.  To top it off some guy is blasting his music right next to you.  It is so annoying because you don’t even like that type of music.  You don’t want to say anything because you might not even know that person or they might give you some rude comeback. You just deal with it and hope to get to your next class on time without the annoying song which is now stuck in your head and souring your mood.

Unfortunately, the use of Bluetooth speakers is a new problem at school that we need to address.  Yesenia Santos, an 11th grader, shared her experiences about hearing the music in the hallways, “ I feel like they are very annoying and they should grow up. It stresses me out because I’m trying to get to class and the speakers are right next to me and it bothers me.”  

Bluetooth speakers are not just an annoyance to students, but also to staff.  Assistant Principal Rito Contreras said that staff have brought up complaints, “Sometimes during lunch we receive calls of groups of students who may be outside of class when teachers have students coming to class for tutorials or to do work and they hear inappropriate music. When we receive those kind of calls, administrators or supervisors or campus security, go to the area and we call attention to that.” Contreras is now making the issue of Bluetooth speakers a new PBIS lesson.

While the speakers can be annoying, a bigger problem is the music due to inappropriate lyrics. Students play artists like Dr. Dre, Dizzy Wright, Juicy J, and A$AP Rocky whose lyrics include profanity, sex, drugs, and many repeatedly use the N word.

Some may argue that listening to music through a Bluetooth speaker is a healthier alternative to listening to music through headphones or earbuds. According to the website WebMD.com, “New surveys from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association highlight that risk, noting that high school students are much more likely than adults to blast the volume in their MP3 players raising the risk of hearing loss later.”

Headphones and earbuds are better for a school environment because you are being considerate about the people around you and they don’t hear your music which may not be to their liking. Junior Mayra Gonzalez says she prefers earbuds. “I wouldn’t want to bother other people if they don’t like my music.”  

Some students say that they like Bluetooth speakers as a way to express themselves and jam out with their friends, but listening to music at those volumes with the type of lyrics a lot of their songs have is just not appropriate for school.  The best time and place to play music through Bluetooth speakers is after school away from classrooms that are hosting tutorials or just not on campus at all.  

Administrators, supervisors and campus security should be more strict on the use of Bluetooth speakers. They don’t have to prohibit listening to music in the halls, but rather make sure that students listen to their music through headphones or earbuds. If students are allowed to listen to their music using speakers with the condition that they use clean versions of songs or add guidelines to the music genres, there will always be that one student that breaks the rules and eventually more students will follow. School hallways are already chaotic as it is, Bluetooth speakers just make matters worse.