Should Cell Phones be allowed in Academic Classrooms - Assignment Example

Should Cell Phones be allowed in Academic Classrooms

Introduction

Everyone in today’s world has a cell phone. This includes young people in most countries of the world. Phones are used in communications with parents and friends. They can also be used for entertainment, for connection and even to search for information on the internet. Just like all other devices, however, some freedoms and restrictions are associated with their use.

Phones are accessible to children as young as ten years old. Most parents use the mobile phones as a means of communicating with their children for example when they are far from them and need to know their location. It is a good thing as parents can reach their children at school from work if need be. However, this is not an entirely a good thing as the children are supposed to be at college paying full attention to their teachers as opposed to using their phones. The students might not only be using the cellphones to communicate to their parents but also using the various applications of their cell phones for other purposes. The effect is that they end up getting distracted and even distracting their classmates. Below are some reasons as to why the phone should not be allowed in the classroom.

Disruptions in Class

According to Brown, (2017) whenever a phone rings while a teacher is instructing a class, it disrupts the class. Most people’s train of thought if deviated will not travel the original path. The teacher, in this case, will end up focusing on this individual, which in effect takes others’ valuable time. The quality of this teacher’s teaching will go down the more distracted they are, so if the cellphone interruptions keep happening, the resultant effect is that the objectives of the lesson will not be fully met. Contrary to popular belief, it does not even help to put the phone in vibration mode. It would be advisable to turn it off altogether or better still not to carry it to class.

Cheating

A cellphone through the internet is a source of endless knowledge and would do students great good by helping them study. Students have however taken advantage of this to use phones to find answers during their tests and exams (Curran, Kevin, Middleton, and Doherty, 2011). Cases of cheating are common in colleges. Due to their small size, students can comfortably sneak phones into their classes and exam rooms. The students can use their cellphones to text answers to each other or search for answers on the internet. In New York, for example, there was a case just recently of a group of seventy students who participated in the sharing of text messages that included photos of test pages. Another occurrence is documented in Long Island where students with the aid of cell phones, created fake IDs to impersonate other students taking a test. Use of phones in class, therefore, can cause academic dishonesty.

Texting

Texting in class has become a social epidemic.it has become the young people’s way of life. It’s a common thing to find a young person on their phone very often texting. Social media has greatly influenced this trait. Aside from the negative behavioral characteristics, this may cause on the youth; it dramatically affects their studies. Students easily get distracted in class thinking or fantasizing about the texts they receive from their friends or the people with whom they communicate. Texting involves short forms and abbreviated words. This type of communication influences the person’s grammar. In tests and assignments, teachers have noted that students use the language they often use during their chats. Texting, therefore, can be attributed to increased deterioration of communication skills in students (Aziz, Shazia, et al., p.12887).

Health factors

The use of mobile phones in and out of class increases health risks on the student and individual. According to research if a person can’t go for five or six hours without their phone, it is possible that they are addicted to the phone. Another study shows that teenagers who are always using their phones experience difficulty in falling asleep, have irregular sleeping patterns and experience increased restlessness. It is not uncommon to find such students sleeping in class. They also get regular headaches and are more susceptible to fatigue and stress. These health implications may substantially affect the students’ academic performance. Keeping students from their phones at least during their school hours would do them a lot of good (Jenaro, Cristina, et al., p.313).

Cyberbullying

A new form of bullying has recently arisen in the form of cyberbullying. This kind of harassment is done on the student’s computer or cell phone. It may be done through texts or via the internet, in social media and mobile applications. It is relatively hard to detect, and it can occur in class under the teacher’s nose. Students may be sending negative, demeaning messages and pictures to a particular student or group of students (Brown, 2017). In most cases, it may not be reported until it is too late. It has in some instances had adverse effects such as self-esteem problems, self-harm, and suicide. This issue could be controlled by ensuring that students do not carry cell phones to class, or even to school. While it might not entirely solve the bullying, it would reduce it significantly (Smith, Peter, et al., p.381). In schools that banned the cell phone from class, cases of cyberbullying reported a significant decrease.

Anti-Social Tendencies

Mobile phones especially the social media is ironically making people more anti-social than social. A typical school going child will prefer chatting with people on the other side of the world as opposed to talking to those close to them. Making friendships is increasingly hard because students will be seated together, but each of them is checking updates on Facebook Twitter or other chatting sites. Face to face interactions are limited, and this makes them not only incapacitated socially but emotionally too. It is easier nowadays to open up to a stranger thousands of miles away than talking to a fellow student seated across from them (Newyorkbehavioralhealth.com, 2017). The abolishment of cell phones from class will force the students to learn social skills which will be beneficial to them.

Poor grades

Ultimately, poor grades are expected because the student will find things on their phone more exciting than what is being taught in class. There is always something exciting happening on the other side of the classroom so when the teacher gets boring, or the topic gets complicated, the student is likely to find an escape route on his phone. If this is repeatedly done, the student will not grasp anything meaningful in class. The school fees paid to keep them there is therefore wasted, as is the opportunity for them to learn. According to University, (2015) when the cell phone takes priority over the things the teacher is teaching, schools will end up producing unqualified shallow graduates who really cannot do anything meaningful without googling it. That could explain the high number of unemployed graduates.

Conclusion

A cell phone is an essential tool for everyday life. It would be a lie to say that the device does not make life easy. It is now easier to communicate to people who are far from us and keep connections. It is also easy to get news from all over the world seconds after the event happens. The internet has made the world a global village which is a good thing. The phone in class, on the other hand, does more harm than good. In places where the phones have been banned from class, teachers noted drastic improvements in their students’ grades and social behavior. The phone has the effect of shutting out the world, so by taking it away, the teacher can communicate critical beneficial concepts to the student without distractions.

It would be cruel to take phones away from students altogether, so the best solution is coming up with a curriculum that allows them to enjoy the use of the devices while also developing other vital aspects of their lives. Parents should teach their children the benefits of doing things in moderation to avoid them becoming addicted to their phones. The school should also coordinate with parents to ensure cell phone usage does not disrupt the child’s development.