During school hours, in class, students are finding ways to try and utilize their phones and use them as a tool rather than a distraction.
Emma Lopez (11) said, “Phones can help you learn, an example of this can be the internet, to help you understand a subject more.”
Proving the point of phones being useful during class is crucial especially when going against the strong opinion from teachers disagreeing.
Alexis Barcellos said, “Schools should limit phone use. If they teach students how to use them responsibly in class, I think they’d have to teach the teachers first how phones can be helpful for students in class.”
Learning the correct use of phones can be the main argument as to why they are not a tool, but also the distraction it causes.
Barcellos also said, “I think behaviorally it is disrespectful to be on your phone when the teacher is talking. It is also amazing how much more students get done when they are not distracted by their phones.”
Teachers having to constantly ask students to put their phone down disrupts class time and lesson learning but they do help some students engage more into the lesson.
Lopez also said, “I usually use my phone to listen to music which helps me stay calm and focused during lessons.”
There are many different ways to focus and learn and listening to music is one of them. Although, there is still the temptation to check notifications while changing the song.
Janelle Leon (11) said, “I use my phone to check the time or look at messages after class.”
Even if there are benefits to having your phone during class time there will always be setbacks in the students’ progress in doing their work.
Barcellos said, “If students are on their phones during instructional time, then that means they aren’t giving their full attention to the teacher/lesson and won’t learn/retain all of the information.”
Which setbacks are the last thing a teacher needs when given a limited amount of days to teach students certain lessons.
There are situations that phones are a tool as Barcellos said, “The only time a phone is useful in class is if the student doesn’t have a chromebook and they can access the assignment from their phone to complete it, and if they are doing the assignment on their phone then I know they aren’t doing anything else on it.”
Opinions may vary depending on who you’re asking, but overall there’s evidence to prove both sides of phones being a tool or distraction.
