In this era, we have all the access to the internet and our cellphones that we could ever need. The smartphone has played a vital role in where we are today. People use them for communication with close ones, internet access and schoolwork or jobs. Unfortunately, it is also the undermining cause of students’ grades dropping and their inability to focus. In classrooms, cell phones can cause a lot of distractions.
The most significant downside of cellphones in classrooms is the distractions they cause. Whether it’s a text, a call or a notification, many people’s first thought is to pick up their phone. Cellphones in class can divert from instructions and impact your overall grade in that class. Santa Maria College has proved that if a notification pops up on our screen, then our brain’s focus immediately goes to that, instead of what we were doing before. Also, The National Library of Medicine says that “97% of students own a smartphone, and 95% bring it to class everyday.” By getting students away from devices, it can recharge their brain which gives them a better ability to focus, improving their concentration and cognitive abilities.
Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, cheating and fabrication, is an issue that has greatly increased with the use of technology in classrooms. Students often will resort to cheating if they did not study or prepare for a test. As classroom environments become more competitive areas, this will just become a bigger issue. Students will continue to use apps such as Photomath and AI to get answers on exams and homework, which will not benefit them long term. Phones give students the opportunity to share their answers with others, which helps them gain an unfair advantage against other students who do their work and try their hardest. By addressing this issue, we can strive to create a fair and feasible school environment.
While we think we are able to multitask by being on our phones and also completing school work, the human brain can not do two things at once. A big issue with phones in classrooms are the productivity rates. Constantly switching from task to task can lead to decreased productivity and can lessen the amount of information that you can process. Phone misuse presents complicated challenges in classrooms which could be prevented with clear boundaries with phone usage.
