“According to a new study, college students are spending one-fifth of their time in class on their cell phones or digital devices when they should be learning.” …
Maybe they’re taking notes.
I don’t think it’s valid that the article cited “checking the time” as a wasteful use of class time/“not-learning.” It takes me less than 3 seconds to push the home button on my iPhone, look at the time, and then return to listening to the lecture. I would be doing the same if I had a watch; in fact, I’d probably check the time more often if I wore a watch.
I do agree that there are quite a few electronic distractions in class – I intentionally sit towards the front of the class to avoid being stuck behind rows of open laptops where students are browsing Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Email/etc. I have a tendency to get “second hand screen distraction” when the guy in front of me is checking his Newsfeed.
I don’t text in class and I take notes by hand, so I don’t have a laptop out. The only tech gear I sometimes have out is an iPad which has PDFs of course readings on it so that I can easily reference them in class if necessary. I think that technology can be a wonderful asset to one’s academic experience but it can also be used to one’s own detriment. I sat next to a girl in a lecture hall one semester who spent every single class on her laptop, shopping for lingerie. I didn’t know how she could possibly perform well on tests when exams were based solely on lecture material and I was also confused as to how much underwear one person could possibly need, (lol.)
I think that there is a lot of polarization when it comes to discussions about technology and our culture – there are people on one side who absolutely love technology and insist upon its full integration into every facet of our life and then there are people on the other side who believe Thomas Edison is a witch and we’re slaves to our iPhones. I think there ought to be more nuance.
I don’t think it’s anything new. 20 years ago kids would probably spend 1/5 of class zoning out, whispering, reading a magazine under the desk etc.
The distraction has always been there. Why? It’s boring to sit in a room and be talked at for an extended period of time.
As a prof, when students are on their phones, that’s a hint to me that I need to step up my game.
Does that include or exclude looking things up relevant to class (e.g. looking up the definition of a word, wikipediaing something, etc)?