Schools have started cracking down on certain websites they don’t want students using on school Chromebooks. More and more schools are banning a growing list of websites, and it seems like new sites get blocked almost daily. These bans usually include gaming sites and websites that use AI, like ChatGPT. This sometimes makes students upset—especially when their favorite game sites get banned overnight. The bans are becoming more frequent and, honestly, starting to feel a bit over the top. Sometimes it feels like schools are blocking anything that even slightly resembles a game.

But are all these banned websites really a bad thing—or could they actually be helpful in some ways?

In my opinion, most of the websites that get banned are blocked for a good reason. A lot of game sites are major distractions during class. Instead of working on assignments or paying attention to lessons, students end up playing games the whole period. That can lead to lower grades and students falling behind—just because they were too focused on gaming instead of learning. So I understand why schools want to block those sites—they’re trying to help students stay focused and succeed.

On the other hand, the bans also create a whole new problem. When a site gets banned, students don’t just give up. Instead, they spend time trying to find ways around the ban. The school blocks one site, and students find another. Some even spend entire class periods searching for loopholes, proxies, or unblocked game sites. So while the bans are supposed to limit distractions, they sometimes cause students to waste even more time trying to get around them.

The truth is, kids will find a way to play games no matter what. They always do. Even if one site is banned, five more pop up the next day. There are so many gaming websites out there that it’s nearly impossible to block them all. And once one student finds a working site, word spreads fast. Pretty soon, the whole class knows about it—and everyone is playing until it gets banned, too.

Overall, it’s a complicated situation. On one hand, the bans help students stay on track and avoid distractions. On the other hand, they can lead to more wasted time and sometimes even block useful or educational websites by accident. The bans are mostly helpful, but they could definitely use some fine-tuning. Schools should take time to carefully decide which websites to block and which ones are actually okay for students to use.