Use of Smartphones in School

“The rate of cell phone ownership among students between the ages of twelve and seventeen in the United States has increased rapidly, from 45 percent in 2004, to 71 percent in 2008, to 88 percent in 2016.” (Cell Phones in School). Cell phone ownership has been increasing over the years, even elementary students own a smartphone. Smartphones have a lot of great advantages, especially when bringing it to school. For instance, a student may bring his smartphone to school, so that he can stay in contact with his parents or even use it for educational purposes. Although the smartphone has advantages, The disadvantages as well. Smartphones in school are a distraction to learning, it allows students to cheat, and they are dangerous.

Smartphones effect learning by it being a distraction during a class lesson. Smartphones are very tempting, especially when a student get a notification message. Students get so fixated and glued to their phones that it interferes with their learning. In addition, smartphones distract the teacher also, especially when the student is to glue to his phone. When a student is too busy attached to his phone, the teacher takes time out her class lesson to try to get him back on track which hinders the learning for the other students that were paying attention, which is not fair to the other students at all. According to a cool article I read on the web, author Ayres, stated, “only 2% of humans are effective multitaskers, which means more information loss is likely to occur with cellphones in schools instead of information retention” (Ayres). A student cannot divide his attention between his teacher and cell phone. To sum up all, smartphone distracts students from their learning.

Another reason smartphones effects learning is that it allows students to cheat. Before the smartphone age, students would just cheat off their classmate, but now a student can just pull up the internet on their phone to cheat. Students should use their own intellect to do their assignments, or they would not achieve anything in life because they are so dependent on cheating. Author Harvey said, “while banning cell phones won't prevent a determined cheater to successfully do so, it can certainly deter unlikelier individuals from trying to” (Harvey). Getting rid of cellphones in the class is a great way to avoid the tempting of cheating. When a student is used to cheat, he would be most likely tempted to pull out his phone when there is an exam, and if he gets caught, the consequences of him getting expelled are at stakes and he just get an F. Therefore, smartphones effects learning by promoting students to cheat.

Lastly, smartphones effects learning by it being dangerous. Smartphones can promote cyberbully. “According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, 33.8% of students reported that they have been cyberbullied at least once in their lives” (Ayres). Cyberbullying can affect ones learning by him not wanting to do his classwork or not attending school. Smartphones also promote students to skip school to meet up with a friend or even a stranger from the internet. “16% of teens have considered meeting someone they’ve only talked to online” (Ayres). In addition, some students would get tempted to steal another students phone especially if he cannot afford to get one himself. Overall, the use of smartphones is dangerous in school.

In conclusion, smartphones in school affect learning by it being a distraction, allowing students to cheat and it being dangerous. Students should be coming to school to learn in a safe environment. Moreover, they do not need any additional distraction in the class.

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