Students are banding together against the ban — in the most millennial way possible.
Displeased Gen Zers are keeping the lines of communication open amid new cell phone bans in schools, chatting with one another via Google Docs on their laptops as a substitute for text messaging.
“They’re being resourceful,” Lissette Cortez, 33, a Chicago mom of four boys, including two teenage stepsons, told The Post.
“These kids are getting creative, using Google Doc, passing Post-It notes and emailing one another,” said the impressed parent, a middle- and high school Spanish teacher. “My respects to the younger generation for wanting to stay connected no matter what.”
Her school district implemented a cell phone ban this fall. Since the embargo, Cortez has noticed some improvements in students’ behavior and learning habits — positive changes she attributes to the restriction.
The educator, however, fears that Gen Zers and Gen Alphas, kids under 18, may ultimately begin misusing Google Docs, and other alternatives to texting, turning the collaborative thread into a space for mischievousness and abuse.
“Google Docs is still a distraction in the classroom,” said Cortez. “It opens the door for bullying and cheating on tests or assignments.”
But it seems the kids just want to speak freely.
The Google Docs hack comes after at least 18 states established bell-to-bell bans on cell phones for the academic year, including New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul described the phones as “distraction devices” and unveiled a campaign to promote the ban, featuring a “Sesame Street”-style mascot named “Frankie Focus.”
But while sneaky teens now look to be doing schoolwork with their laptops open, they’re still chatting away just as they would with a phone.
“A bunch of high school kids are creating a Google Doc with their friends, they all have real-time access to it, and they just type into it during class time,” Valerie Elizabeth Dickinson, a teacher and content creator, claimed.
“So, they’ve basically reinvented the AOL chat room,” she added, likening the youngsters’ old-school stunt to the Y2K-era platform, which allowed dial-up internet users to virtually engage in group text conversations on their computers.
And folks over 30 — many of whom survived most of middle school and high school without cell phones — are getting a kick out of Gen Z’s throwback hack.
Dickinson revealed the hack in a trending TikTok, which sparked amused reactions from millennials.
“Wait until they rediscover passing notes,” teased a commenter
“Chat rooms are back!” another exclaimed with glee.
On social media, other teens have also been sharing how they use Google Docs to get their gabbing done.
“[Your] cell phone rule was never going to stop me from texting my [best friend],” a tech-savvy teen wrote in the caption of a TikTok vid, featuring the Google Doc thread she shares with a pal.
“Can’t ever silence us, queens,” wrote a separate, but equally rebellious, teenybopper in another Google Docs praise post, captioning the clip, “F that phone ban.”
The ban across the Empire State took effect Sept. 4, with the move dividing parents, kids and teachers.
The Post previously reported that some parents were worried about being unable to contact their kids in case of an emergency.
Shockingly, it’s been warmly received by students, including Upper West Side middle schooler Maximilian Davidge, 12, who told The Post: “I actually like the idea because if everyone is on their phone when the teacher is teaching, then no one will learn anything in school.”
Educators have also praised the change, with Brooklyn Preparatory High School history teacher, Mr. Johnson, saying: “The cell phone ban has transformed my class … I haven’t had kids this engaged in years.”
