Once a popular commodity of the high school experience, now infamously forgotten. High school lockers are now a thing of the past for most modern day students. Countless television shows and movies such as High School Musical have portrayed lockers as a student’s iconic identity. 

The metal compartments which contained a personal space for students to store their belongings, lockers were highlighted as highly decorated to personalize a student’s locker and make them unique. The use of lockers have dramatically declined since the 2000s. 

Students voice their opinions on how they feel about lockers and the decline in popularity. 

“My backpack is literally my locker,” said freshman Benjamin Aquino. With the focus of getting to class on time, mobility is a commonly agreed upon factor, with students agreeing lockers aren’t convenient anymore. 

Senior Brayden Garcia adds, “There’s no use for them anymore, we have back packs now.” 

The digital age with progressive technology is considerably a large factor into the reason the lockers are not as common today among students. Previously, students were hauling large heavy textbooks. Now, a large number of students share that they carry a laptop, a notebook, and folder. Locker space to store large textbooks has diminished. 

“I need to pretty much use everything that I take with me in all my classes,” said freshman Wyatt Allison. 

Expression and personalization of lockers aren’t as welcomed as students share being unable to decorate their lockers on the exterior. 

One of many reasons, but just as important to students: time. There is a short window of time between classes for students to juggle social meetings with their friends, and going to their lockers. 

Junior Brielle Dunbar said, “I feel like it’s too much time taken up, you could just carry it, you know.” 

Time is of the essence and students would much rather not worry about traveling to their lockers, especially if their locker is at a far distance. 

Sophomore Landon Lazard said, “I feel like it takes too much time to go to a locker than it is to just put everything in your bag and go to your next class.” 

Senior Huy Nyguen, however, used a locker last year for sports.

“I find it useful if you’re an athlete, and I can use it to store my food if I’m hungry, it’s convenient,” Nyguen said. “I don’t have a use for a locker anymore as I’m not doing a sport this year. They’re convenient but if it’s too far, it defeats the purpose.” 

Many students even advocate that lockers should be removed from major hallways, keeping only some in certain areas, to clear up some space in the hallways that are normally jammed and tightly packed during transitional periods between classes. 

Collectively a majority of students have agreed in common that lockers don’t have a purpose anymore. Lockers, once a symbolized tradition, have now dramatically faded.