Smartphones are facing scrutiny in classrooms from K-12 to college. Some teachers prohibit cell phones inside the classroom because their alerts, text messages, and social media updates are a distraction to the students. Other teachers allow them because students need easy access to information, assignments and calendars. Are smartphones interfering with academic productivity and learning?
While students are clicking on messages and checking out images of their friends, these interactions on their smartphones often trigger anxiety, and FoMo (fear of missing out) when they see that their friends are engaged in exciting activities while they’re stuck in a classroom or their bedrooms. Although the students may physically be in the classroom or at their desks doing homework, they are not engaged. That’s why it takes an inordinate amount of time for students to get their assignments done each day.
Having instantaneous contact with virtually all friends also creates a heightened and possibly overwhelming influx of information. This doesn’t give students the downtime they need to contemplate much of what they’re trying to process because they are receiving constant information. When it comes time to prepare for midterms or final exams, many students complain that they don’t remember concepts that they learned earlier in the year. This makes it difficult for them develop collective knowledge (long-term memory) over time – a vital part of the learning process.
Similarly, students really can’t multitask. Many think they can listen to a lecture while answering questions on a worksheet. If they attempt to do both activities at the same time, chances are both will be done poorly because they can only focus on one subject at a time. In other words, they need to focus on one task until they complete it, and then move on to the next task. Only then can they put in the concentration needed to get the task done well.
A recent study explored the psychological impacts of smartphones in college classrooms. Melissa Huey, assistant professor of behavioral sciences at the New York Institute of Technology, examined students’ mindfulness, anxiety, and course comprehension with students who relinquished their smartphones during classes vs. students who had access to their phones throughout class lectures.
The students who were engage in classroom lectures free of smartphones had significantly lower anxiety levels and higher comprehension and mindfulness than those who had unlimited access to their smartphones during classes. The students conducted self-reported scores to reach these conclusions. This study was conducted over a six-week period in two classes.
Huey contends that the nation’s polarization and the role of social media in spreading misinformation are tied to our students’ difficulty in managing conflict resolution skills. Both in and out of the classroom, she examined the importance of critical thinking and how smartphones interfere with the ability of students to deal with daily stressors.
Students, and even parents, may need to give themselves a time out so they can stop the ever speeding treadmill on which they are racing – just to keep their heads above water. Maybe we all need to put away our smartphones while we go to class or work, and spend electronics-free time with our family and friends. Connecting with one another and engaging in conversations and activities without our smartphones may give us the opportunity to laugh, have fun, and learn something. Maybe we need to establish simple rules in the classroom and at home to give our children, and ourselves, a healthier atmosphere, and in turn, positive academic productivity and learning.
Cellphone usage has become an addiction for teens (and parents). Kids even check their phones for text messages while they are physically with friends and family for fear of missing out (FOMO). The stress of constantly checking Instagram and texts puts kids in limbo while they try to multitask — unsuccessfully.
You’re not alone if you feel a little rejected when your kids find their communication with others to be more important than with us. Whatever happened to etiquette? Remember when giving eye contact while talking with friends was expected? Seems like teens today have their heads buried in their phones and don’t even bother glancing in our direction while “talking” to us.
So you believe them when they tell you they’re successfully juggling homework assignments, preparing for tests, and learning concepts while checking and responding to text messages? Umm, nope! They’re barely doing the work and glazing over notes while steeped in drama with their friends. On the surface, they may push around papers, zip over worksheets, and make a poor attempt at preparing for tests. But we know our precious kids can do better.
How can they really comprehend difficult concepts or problem solve when they are disrupted about every 30 seconds to gaze at their phones causing them to completely lose focus? Half a minute isn’t long enough to delve into anything – especially when they’re hoping to get a text from a friend.
When confronted with their addiction to their phones, teens can become angry and defensive. They’ll claim that they hardly use their phones and that texting doesn’t interfere with their concentration or work performance. That’s why you need to be the parent and set up new family cellphone rules. By forcing them to take a break from the constant pressure of social media, their school performance will improve as well as their attitudes.
Place all phone chargers in the kitchen or a central location, and set up a simple schedule for phone usage. Phones need to be in chargers except for designated times.
Try this for teens:
30 min before school
(if they get up early enough to make their beds, get dressed, eat breakfast, and pack their lunches)
30 min after school
(during transportation home while in vehicle or walking home)
30 min after dinner
(no cell phones at the dinner table)
60 min max after homework is complete
(if time allows; phones need to be in charger at a designated bedtime)
Make a policy for all family members, yourself included, to be a good role model and to avoid major collisions about fairness. Those who don’t abide by the rules, lose their phone privileges for a day. Lock the phone in a safe or take it with you. You can set up a more lenient schedule for weekends to give them some freedom to soak up social media but monitor the amount of time; especially if they have studying and homework to complete. Set up perks like getting phone upgrades if they abide by phone schedules.
You’ll find that your teens will be more engaged in discussions at home, their grades will improve, they’ll get more sleep, and they’ll be generally more peaceful. Of course, they’ll never admit it, but you’ll know.