The first thing students do before their professor begins instruction is put their cellphones away.
At least, that’s what they should do.
The first iPhone came out in 2007. Twelve years later, phone consumption has taken over the world. Cellphone addiction does not need much evidence to be proven. Everywhere we look, people have their heads down and eyes glued to their phone.
After talking with Professor Jon Beadle on my college campus, it is clear that cellphones are keeping students from learning in the classroom.
“I ask students to put their cellphones away and I can see the nervousness in their faces. It’s like they can’t even bear to think about staying off of their phones for an hour.”
Jon Beadle
Beadle teaches English for first-year students which makes it even more difficult to control their cellphone use.
“These students are coming straight from high school and need to learn self-discipline.”
Jon Beadle
Even though students are told to put their phones away, they still find creative ways to use their phones. According to this article written in 2016, students will text in their notebooks, pockets, or just leave their phone in their lap.
It seems like the more students are told to get off of their phones, the more they want to use them. For a high school in Ohio, they actually attempted to ban cellphones and it ended in students wanting to use them more. Teachers were finding that students were still using their phones even though there was a strict ban set in place. See this article here.
But can we manage how much we use our cellphones?
One idea that Apple came out with in 2018 that may encourage students to set down their phones is the Screen Time section located in the settings. This is a great tool to use to manage your screen time and see how much time you spend on each app you use. This has personally helped me lower my screen time from 2 hours a day to 45 minutes a day.
Break your cellphone addiction. Here are some helpful tips.
Students and Cellphone Addiction 