The Cell Phone : Is It Hurting Your Education?

Nowadays most of students have cell phones as a way to communicate with others.but sometimes they can get distracted by these devices in class. Schools should require cell phones to be turned off and putting away during class, so students would focus more on assignments and information provided by the instructor.

Phones are a distraction in class. Students have a difficult time separating themselves from their phones. The constant need to check statuses and stay connected have teachers struggling to teach. Miriam Morgenstern, a teacher at Lowell High School is ending her career as a teacher because she claims they are “an incredible distraction, and make it much more difficult to teach.” She went on to state that “it’s pretty hard to compete with a very funny YouTube video.” Students and teachers are constantly surrounded by distractions that take the focus off of learning and preparing for their careers.

Ding ding. The student’s phone distracting the whole class when he texting back and forth with a friend sitting across from him. Kids each day get more and more addicted to their phones. Electronics even affect kids grades. Children each day are getting chained to their phones; therefore their grades are dropping. The generation of cell phones has greatly affected us humans because children in school can be on their phones watching the next best thing while a class is going on, it is distracting the kids around them and themselves. The more cell phones that are allowed in school the more children are on their phone letting their grades drop because they are distracting themself and others. The students seem happy with their cell phones, but cell phones in school is defective —there was a problem.“It found that following a ban on phone use, the school's' test scores improved by 6.4%. The impact on underachieving students was much more significant -- their average test scores rose by 14%” (Kottasova). Cell Phones in school is superfluous because keeping students distracted can lead them to flunking their tests, can cause cyber-bullying to increase, and cheating on other test which can lead to getting in trouble.

In today’s society, smart phones are a part of a student’s average, everyday life. No matter what people are doing, they find time to look at their phone and make a call, read a text, check e-mails, or search something on Google. Even though people find so many uses for them throughout the day, they are a controversial subject to talk about in their use in the classroom. Many schools have policies strictly prohibiting the use of smart phones in school. For schools to ban the use of smart phones is a major mistake. They only look at cell phones as a distraction to students, and don’t understand that this generation is dependent on the technologies of today. What educators need to do is ask themselves

Many students have used their cell phones to share answers to tests and quizzes, and to report inaccurate and offensive information about other students and their school. Cell phones can be distractions in the school environment, evading classroom time and reducing student’s academic success.

We often associate the use cell phones while attending school as a huge distraction and something that should be forbidden by all schools.

Many people believe that bringing cell phones to school may cause distractions. However, a recent study leads more and more people to believe that mobile phones could in fact be a “powerful learning tool” (Docksai), serving as a mobile computer ("Cell Phones in the Classroom” ). Elizabeth Hartnell- Young, a research fellow from the University of Nottingham tracked 331 students from 14 to 16 years old, for learning through cell phones. They used cell phones to make short videos, set homework reminders, record poems, and transfer files from home to school (Docksai). Students described their learning experience as “motivated” (Docksai). Many experts pointed out that students have a “deep comfort level” with mobile phones (Docksai). In other words, students could learn more if they enjoyed what they were doing. An increasing number of teachers have changed their point of view towards cell phones, many now believe that cell phones would exert positive effects on education. For example, some teachers have already started to collect homework online and answer questions through text- messaging. A school in Saskatchewan encouraged students to read and share thoughts about books through their cell phones (Docksai). Furthermore, according to a recent survey, the majority of students could refrain from using cell phones and not be distracted by them in class. In fact, over 71% of students didn’t

One problem with cell phones in today’s society is that they have become major distractions. Cell phones are distracting employees in the workplace and are leaving them with their jobs halfway done. Everywhere in the business industries, the employees are hard at work re-tweeting and catching up on the latest newsfeed rather than managing their time more wisely. Not only are cell phones a distraction in the workplace, they are also a distraction and disruptive in school districts, causing students’ attention to be elsewhere. Many students would rather text in the middle of class instead of pay attention to what the teacher is reviewing. In this case, students do not gain the amount of education provided for them. In addition to cell phones being distracting, people often like to multi-task by walking or driving while texting. These things cause them to be unaware of their surroundings. Texting while driving has become a major issue because texting and driving can lead to car crashes which are often fatal. On the other hand, texting and walking isn’t too bad, but can cause a little bit of embarrassment. There are stories of people walking into walls and bumping into people or tripping over a table because their nose seems to be stuck in their phone. To some, being on their cell phone is more important than grades, clients, and others around them.

Everywhere you look technology is all around us, it follow us to our homes to our schools as well as the younger generation. Cell phones has been a big part of everyone’s daily life, as to planning or scheduling there days, texting others, social media, and calling their love ones. However, having these wonderful technology it can be a distraction to others as well as the owner of that phone. In these readings, “The use and abuse of cell phones and text messaging in the classroom: A survey of college students” by Deborah R. Tindell and Robert W. Bohlander and “Rude texting students say they’re only multitasking” by Mike Cronin and finally an article called “Views on use of cellphones in college classrooms” by Mclean Bennett. These three article

The next topic of discussion is cell phones in classrooms. The article being summarized is entitled The Only Thing We Have to Fear is…120 Characters. In this article, Kevin Thomas and Christy McGee (2012) make arguments for the use of cellphones in classrooms in spite of the fact that 69% have banned them. This paper responds to the many reasons for disallowing their use, and then it goes on to highlight some ideas about why cell phones should be used as educational tools. Both sides of the discussion certainly make valid points.

The topic in question focuses on the relationship between the use of cell phones on campuses nationwide and how/if they affect students’ academic performance.

Cell phones and technology in general has advanced a lot over the last ten years. Allowing students to be able to take their phones or devices wherever they want in today’s society. Thus bringing forward the issue of cell phone distraction in the classroom.

Unfortunately, cell phones have become one of the biggest challenges instructors face in college classrooms as these devices have become a pervasive part of young people's lives. What used to only make phone calls and send text messages, now does our emailing, sends us Facebook and Snapchat notifications, and plays music. Additionally, our cell phones are not only used for personal activities, but for school and work life. We want to be reachable in case of an emergency, but the constant stream of notifications has led our productivity to significantly tumble down. Recently, I noticed that in many of my classes, even though the professor says there is a “no phone” policy, many students are scrolling through their social media feeds or responding to a text rather than paying attention to the lecture of the day. I admit to using my phone constantly during class, which often has led my grades to suffer poorly. Rather than paying attention to the lesson, I was checking on buzzing notifications of entertainment news and random trivia. Because I was not listening to my professor earlier in the day, I had a difficult time trying to complete the homework assignment. Thus, in an attempt to be epistemic temperate, for the last two days, I tried to not use my phone during class lectures and study time to measure my productivity.

In Tamara Brenner’s article, “The Use of Mobile Devices in the College Classroom”, she stresses that the use of cell phones is distracting in a college classroom setting. This article was published by the Bok Center by Harvard University. Brenner has a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology, and taught undergraduate life science classes at Harvard. Today’s day and age is almost completely dependent on technology. Teenagers and students today have a completely new problem to deal with as far as how to balance cell phone time and lecture time in classrooms. Anybody in a college classroom setting should pay attention to what is in this article, especially students and teachers. Brenner uses strong studies and research papers to inform the reader about the issue as well as looks at all sides of the argument on how distracting mobile devices are in the college classroom.

Cell phones are a terrible distraction and should play a lesser part in our society. The term distraction does not only apply to the average American classroom, but also to the drivers, young and old, paving an addiction for the future generations to ride on. There have been several attempts at lessening the level of interference. The creation of hands-free phone calls was a major development in the process of making communicating while driving safer. Revised cellphone policies among school districts also shows the adaptations being made to include these electronic wonders. These may help to decrease the amount of trouble these portable guillotines cause. But all that glitters is not gold. These things used to be our toys, now they've become like a pacemaker to the common man. We, as a society, have become so dependent on them that they have become a necessity to live. Most people, when having their cellphone taken away, could not function. They would be lost, stressed, and falling to pieces without their beloved phone and their technology centered fix. The truth is not pretty. I myself wouldn’t want to give up my phone, but the fact of the matter is that cellphones are a nuisance to the efficiency and attention-grabbing aspects of our culture.