Illustrations: Peter C. Espina/GT

"Nomophobia" or no-mobile-phobia has become as common in society as the gizmo that has almost upended the social order - we are talking about cell phones. With youth and adolescents falling fast to the phenomenon, how do we deal with the "disease?" A recent incident in a middle school has aroused controversy. In a widely circulated short video uploaded on Monday on China's popular social platform TikTok, a couple of staff members are seen smashing several cell phones seized from students, in the presence of hundreds of teenagers in school uniform lined up on the playground. Some broken phones are even seen smoking. As discussion heats up, the principal of the school in Huainan, East China's Anhui Province weighed in. Principal Zheng said cell phones are strictly prohibited by school rules. Parents have signed agreements with the school and are well aware that their kids' phones might be destroyed after being confiscated. Tens of thousands of Chinese netizens joined the heated debate. Some applauded the school's way of dealing with the menace, saying it's good for adolescent development, while others criticized the practice as an infringement of property rights adding that it wouldn't help solve the problem. Zheng said, "We are not afraid to be a negative case... Our practice was indeed radical, but doing nothing would be more harmful." Society needs to think about how smart phones have influenced people and what we can do to deal with the phobia.