Avoiding Electronic Distractions In Class

How will you learn while using texting or tweeting during lectures?

Yes, we can all agree on the fact that lectures can be boring or tedious for students. Even I’ll admit to occasionally tuning off when lecturers are talking. In spite of this, I realize that I’m in class to learn, so I make the effort to pay attention as much as possible so it hurts to see students surfing the Internet during lectures. They are not even trying.

This goes to show how far electronic technology has taken over our generation. And it’s not just us: approximately 38 percent of all college students in the US can’t go more than 10 minutes without using a digital device, according to the Educational Database Online. More than 80 percent of students have also admitted to using digital devices during class, according to a study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During classes, I you get to see your coursemates texting, checking Facebook and playing games on their phones.

As far as I’m concerned, this shows a stunning lack of respect for not only the professors but also our parents and the taxpayers, whose money is being wasted with students playing “Angry Birds” instead of learning. Sure, lectures aren’t always interesting, but they are teaching valuable skills to those entering specific fields. That’s what everybody goes to school for. It is hard for those skills to stick when we’re more focused on Instagram than listening in class. If you feel like they cannot function without checking Facebook every so often, it is important to realize that you have many other opportunities to do so outside of class.

Not only is it distracting for us, it is also distracting for those sitting around us. If I am sitting behind somebody watching a silly cat video on their laptop, I will have a hard time being able to listen to lectures and see what the cat is doing at the same time. People who leave their laptops open while doing distracting things in class are likely going to capture the attention of other people in their range. That attention should be focused on what the lecturers are saying. By actively distracting themselves, these students are actively distracting their mates.

I know a lecturer who banned the use of laptops in her classroom even for note-taking because she felt students were using them to surf the web. It is a case of bad apples ruining the bunch. I know there are people who only use their laptops for taking notes, but far too many students use their laptops without ever taking notes or spend some time on their notes and the rest on the Internet. This results in laptops not being allowed in some classes.

I’d like it if people used their phones responsibly in class and did not use their laptops for irrelevant purposes. Students can gain so much knowledge from their professors that they can’t get by constantly texting and chatting. For those who think it’s no big deal, wait until exams roll around and see if the time spent browsing Facebook in class was good preparation.