Why Are Smartphones Distracting In Class?

In this world of advanced technologies, smartphones and tablets have made communication easier for everyone. These gadgets brought entertainment to everyone, particularly to kids and teenagers. Children of this generation as young as five know how to navigate and use smartphones.

Today, it has become a trend so much that kids can’t go to school without one. Of course, these smartphones have become a massive factor in contributing to the child’s distraction in the classroom that adversely impacted their education.

Students choose to surf and post messages on social media during class hours. College students spend more time using their smartphones rather than listening to lessons in class. A study showed that students check their phones and other devices more than 11 times per day on average. And, it’s not only a quick look to see if someone is trying to reach them. Instead, they spend up to 20% of their time in the classroom texting, emailing, navigating the web, browsing social media, and even playing games.

Almost 30% of students reported using their digital devices without distracting themselves from their learning. More than a quarter said that it was their choice to use a smartphone or other device during the class. And they do not see any problem with this behavior.

Few arguments suggest that smartphones and other devices can be helpful in researching for educational purposes. However, a new study demonstrated that using electronic devices in classrooms may further reduce students’ grades.

This rating could be the difference between transition and failure for some students. Even the top performers in the class performed very poorly when they got addicted to smartphones.

It is equally important not to forget that having an appliance did not ultimately lower the scores in the exams; it dropped the grade by up to 5% or half at the end of the exam. These results show that the significant effect of divided attention in the classroom is on long-term retention. In the meantime, it demonstrates that intense multitasking diminishes the effectiveness of accomplishing a given task. Ultimately, intelligent smartphones and other electronic devices may reduce students’ ability to think and work to their full potential.

Students get distracted when pursuing a goal that matters, and something prevents them from achieving it. This happens when technology overtakes daily routine and work.

There are two tasks for the student’s attention: what the teacher is attempting to teach and what the student wants to do on the digital device. As a result, it is possible to recall or maintain fewer elements concerning these two tasks.

Most educators agree that the prohibition of devices in the classroom is not the solution. Not only does the ban on technology go against the world in which we live, but it could also inadvertently isolate students who require these devices to participate in classes.

Instead, teachers and students need to change the way they do things. Teachers need to keep up with the reality that smartphones and other devices are here to stay. They also need to realize that the students’ main reason for turning on their devices in the classroom is usually boredom.