Magazine Article

Magazine Article: To use or not to use cell phones?

By Chase Hadden

We, as a society, have seen cell phones become more popular, it is not uncommon for an
Elementary aged child to have a phone at their fingertips. The question that we are still trying to
find an answer to is; should we allow students to use their phones in a classroom environment?
Through out this article I will address the pro’s, the con’s, and the conclusion I have come to
from my research.

The first con I came across in my research was from the article “Ban Students Cellphones
in Mass. Public School.” In the article it talked about how much more access students have to
cellphones, because of this access it showed how it has hindered social development. I found this
quite interesting because in my mind I feel that as cellphones keep getting bigger and bigger our
ability to socialize will keep getting smaller and smaller. With this crisis happening I feel
eventually the students will never actually develop social skills that are beneficial in the work
place.

Another point that this article made was that screen time of any kind, for a long duration
can negatively affect a child’s learning capacity. I bring this point to your awareness because
most children are in school between six to eight hours a day. If we can limit their time on a
screen, then hopefully we can counter balance the time they will spend later that day with a
screen.

Screen time is a big problem and Jean M. Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego
State, wanted to see just how big of a problem it was. She ran a study with people who fell under
the category of post-millennials and her researched discovered that most of the people that spent
more time on a screen were less likely to hang out with friends, date less, feel lonely, and have
no desire to be independent. Her conclusion was that the more screen time people have the
higher the risk for depression the child was.

The second article I was using for research was titled, “Teaching in the Smartphone Age”
by Chris Berdik. The first point I pulled from this article was that phones often cause young
students to multitask. Chris Berdik said “younger people are more confident in their ability to
multitask and do it more often.” In truth multitasking is a myth and most psychologist’s call it
task switching. Task switching is where your brain switches from one task to another but there is
a millisecond delay during the process. This delay causes you to forget what you are doing, takes
longer to complete an activity, and the quality of the activity is 50% lower than if you had just
focused on the task.

Cellphones are a cause of task switching and can cause students to lose focus in classes.
When they lose focus they don’t remember what is being taught. In addition to the students not
remembering what is being taught they also have a harder time with activities that need to be
completed during class.

While researching my first pro that I found was from the article, “Why Students should
be using their phones in class.” This article talked about how cellphones should be used in class
because it helps students develop self-discipline. This is important because it will help students
use phones when they are needed in the classroom, but also show restraint and show to their

teacher and themselves that they are responsible and can be trusted. This is a skill that if
developed early can greatly impact their education for the better.

Another point this article brought up, was that because students are always looking at
their phones and using them outside of school and class, they are more likely to remember things
that they need for school. When students use their cellphones as a study tool the information is
more readily available at their fingertips. Also, if the information is on their phone they are less
likely to lose their cellphone then a piece of paper from class.

Jay Greenlinger, director of instructional technology in the Pleasant Valley School
District, said, “I think it’s a classroom issue. [Not a technology issue.] No matter what your kids
have in their hands, or on their desk, if the teacher doesn’t have something meaningful, they will
find something to do.” This quote really speaks the truth because in most classes that are really
strict on cellphone policies usually still have students that are messing around and goofing off
instead of listening to the lessons; which means that instead of being stricter on cellphones,
schools should focus more of their energy on teaching teachers how to teach more efficiently.

After all the research I have done, I concluded that there are pro’s and con’s to this
situations to having cellphones in the classroom. The pro’s being students can readily access
information that they might not have been able to before, it helps students develop self-
discipline, and that students are less likely to lose information when it is on their cellphone.

The con’s for this situation are, social skills are not being developed anymore, too much
screen time is destructive for children, and younger children are believing they can multitask
better than anyone else.

My personal conclusion is, that there is a time and place for no use of cellphones in the
classroom and times that students may use their cellphones in the classroom. The reason why I
say this, is because during a lecture or lesson students should be paying attention to get the most
out of the lesson. When students don’t have their cellphones out it will help students understand
what is going on during the lesson and they will be able to complete their assignments quicker
and grown in the skills pertaining to that specific subject.

The times when cellphones should be allowed in the classroom is when students are using
to further their knowledge on a specific subject, but only after all other assignments have been
completed. Another time cellphones should be allowed is during an emergency when students
are allowed to call 911 or their immediate family to let them know they are safe. In the end, it
will always depend on the teacher, and the students that are in that classroom of weather
cellphone will be used for good or bad.

Word Count:1060

Sources

• Why students should be using their phones in class. (2018, 29 Jan). University
Wire Retrieved from https://sks-sirs-com.byui.idm.oclc.org

• Pelham, T. (2017, 30 Sep). Smartphones in the classroom create pitfalls and
possibilities. Hartford Courant Retrieved fromhttps://sks-sirs-com.byui.idm.oclc.org

• Bertsch, S. (2017, 16 Sep). Cell phone serves 'lot of purposes' in mitchell high
school. TCA Regional News Retrieved fromhttps://sks-sirs-com.byui.idm.oclc.org

• Ban student cellphones in mass. public schools. (2018, 29 Jan). Sun (Lowell,
Massachusetts) Retrieved from https://sks-sirs-com.byui.idm.oclc.org

• Berdik, C. (2018, 24 Jan). Teaching in the smartphone age. Washington Post Retrieved
from https://sks-sirs-com.byui.idm.oclc.org