Ahhh technology. I’ve said this before and I don’t think I’ll stop saying it anytime soon: it’s such a blessing and a curse. Cell phones, laptops and tablets are a way of life for us. Even if you have somehow avoided the technology, you can’t go anywhere without seeing someone using a device. And now they’ve made their way into the classroom. Is this an awesome way to supplement learning or a train wreck causing massive distraction for students? There seems to be national debate forming about that very thing.
On the one hand, those sleek little supercomputers promise to connect us to all human knowledge. On the other hand, they are also scientifically designed by some of the world’s top geniuses to feel as compelling as oxygen.
A recent NPR article revealed that a national survey found two-thirds of K-12 teachers said the number of students who are negatively distracted by digital technologies in the classroom is growing. Of those teachers surveyed, 75 percent said students’ ability to focus on educational tasks has decreased.
The article covers interviews of 4 different professionals, all with different takes on the matter. They dive into the pros and cons, the discuss the reason for “no,” the benefit of “yes” and the possibility of a happy medium. It’s an eye-opening read.
What are your thoughts on cell phones/laptop use in classrooms. Are you all for it, totally against, or do you believe there’s a way to successfully embrace it?
Weigh in below!
~Mavis
Evelyn Pace says
Many schools here are no books laptops provided to each student,Florida so what is a parent to do. Cell phones NO turned off at first bell until end of school.
Jennifer says
Our kids had school issued lap tops starting in 9th grade when we moved here, so they know no difference. It has cut down on paper, that’s for sure. Even forms that used to be sent home are now done online. Everything else in life is, so no problem for me.
As for cell phones, I think they should stay in a backpack or a locker until at least middle school and preferably high school. My kids all had teachers in high school that would allow them to listen to music with ear buds if they had finished their work/tests and that was a great thing instead of sitting and staring at the walls. Fwiw, mine didn’t get cell phones until 7th and 8th grades – 13 and 14, if memory serves.
Now, if you want a controversy, how about the fact that teachers hands are tied when it comes to “the wild kid” in class that disrupts things constantly, for whatever reason, be it medical, emotional or just plain bratty and undisciplined? My dd is a teacher and what she can and can’t do is plain crazy. I guess I’m showing my age, right?
Anna says
THIS! I’m more disconcerted by the poor classroom behavior and chaos. I wonder how my kids get anything accomplished! My 5th grader has begged me for homeschooling for years (can’t do it, we work) or to go back to the cushy private school ( can’t, too expensive and I do believe in our public school system) where disruptive behavior was handled. He complains about the bad behavior every.single.day. I feel sorry for teachers, they deserve a pay raise and an exotic vacation for mental rehabilitation. Were there a bunch of parents who threatened district lawsuits over disciplining their special snowflakes since I was a kid?! Good grief!
Anna says
Wait, what were we talking about again…technology in classrooms?! I think cell phones should be off during class or at the teachers discretion.
Heidi says
I vote “no”, especially phones. Laptops may have some use.
Phones are so often used by those who want to “gotcha”. I have been around friends of my friends who wanted to impress by doing this to me. So petty. I went back to school a few years ago, and there was one gal in the class who looked up everything the instructor said on her phone in an attempt to prove her wrong! It was very annoying when she would loudly announce that the legal ruling had been made in March of 2010 not April like the instructor said.
TD says
I work in a High School in a non-instructional role. I think cell phones should never be seen or heard inside the school. So rude when you address a student and have to repeat yourself 2-3 times and get “what?” Because they are too engrossed in a video game or texting. I know they have a time and place, but should be stored in a locker or backpack turned OFF. Seems everyday there is a fatal accident due to electronic ‘distracted driving’ they have them on all day at school, why would they turn them off in the car?
Josh says
As a 9th and 10th grade Social Studies teacher, we love technology and use it at least 3 days a week. We read articles online, write research papers, use Google Classroom to save paper, and it connects us to world we are studying. The only time it is a distraction is when I have to lecture to the students, and we have a no technology policy and we don’t have a problem on those 1-2 days a week. Education is very hands on and chrome books, Ipads, and phones help us get our hands dirty learning the social sciences.
Currently we are studying world populations and are researching natalist policies from around the world. Then, they are to craft their own natalist policy for the USA and present it to the class. They also have to find out how to fund their policy, so many are researching how Congress funds programs. There is so much learning happening that wouldn’t be available without technology in my classroom.
It really does depend on the teacher and their comfort level with technology as well. I grew up with it and love using it, grading it, and pushing their research abilities to find new information no textbook holds.
Randi says
My kids high school this year put into place a ‘no phones’ rule in classrooms AND passing periods. Kids can have their phones out at lunch time only. The principal mentioned at open house in October that he is now seeing kids actually TALK to each other in the hallways and at lunch. He expressed that the staff thought that the kids would be clamoring to be on their phones at lunch but in fact he said now they have noticed a much louder lunchroom (meaning kids are talking to each other)
Cheri says
I’m a substitute teacher who spends time in many different schools and classrooms at all levels. I don’t see cell phones affecting elementary students, which is understandable, but I’ve had some trouble at the secondary level. And teachers have different attitudes about it. Some have shoe holders hanging on their wall into which student have to put their phones; others say they have to be out of sight; some don’t care.
What I have learned is that the middle-of-the-road teachers are making the biggest mistake. When they have to be out of sight, students sneak them, which causes friction with me (and I assume the real teacher) and distractions. When they don’t have a rule, that can be a problem, too, but it doesn’t seem to matter as much. From my POV, the best thing teachers can do is have the shoe rack up front where kids can physically see their phones and then retrieve them if there is a need to access the internet in class. This happens often, especially at higher grades, so telling them to leave it in their lockers is unreasonably strict. Cell phones can be a huge help in some lessons.
Linda Sand says
I like the shoe holder idea. Those phones should all be turned off or put in airplane mode, though, so they don’t ring during class. As to lap tops and tablets, I think they should be out of sight unless a specific assignment includes using them.
Cheri says
Amazingly, ringing/dinging phones have never been a problem. I think most students are used to school rules enough these days to keep their phones on vibrate.
Cheri says
I just want to add that I think laptops are almost worse than cell phones. When students have laptops out for whatever reason, I feel like I have less control of the class than with cell phones. If it’s an assignment they’re working on, I can patrol the classroom to see that they are working, but when they are out all the time, I feel they are even more distracting than cell phones. If I walk by, it is too easy for them to flip screens to hide what they are really doing. I’d far rather stick to textbooks and notebooks and use laptops for specific projects.
Rachel says
YES! I was a high school social studies teacher before having a child three years ago and while a commenter above thinks it is helpful in his classroom to have so much technology, I don’t agree. I think kids are forgetting how to think for themselves because they’re too busy looking up the “right” answer or what the data says verse making their OWN DANG OPINION. Phones need to be out of sight, out of mind. Teenagers are ADDICTED to them. And the classroom should be a phone-free zone.
Cheri says
Linda, sometimes I’ve had teachers leave assignments that require research. When students have their own phones, this eliminates the struggle to spread around enough computers, which results in wasted time. Also, sometimes teachers leave writing assignments or ask students to work on projects they need a computer for. Many students don’t have their computers at school, but because they have their phones and the assignment is on Google Drive or Classroom, they are able to work on the assignment rather than waste their time. Technology is a tool that can be used or misused. In most things I am actually pretty old-fashioned, but having seen many different classroom situations up close and personal, I defend the judicious use of cell phones in the classroom. They just need to be out of students’ hands when they are not being used for assignments.
Mavis Butterfield says
I think peeps are forgetting to think for themselves as well.
Margery says
Our grade schools have a 2:1 program which is one I pad for every 2 kids. All their text books are on line, they take all state testing on line, and everything to parents is by email. Middle school is 1:1 each kid is issued a I pad, and that is were all their books are and all work is done.
High school they are working on a 1;1 program but currently, kids can bring their own device. We bought our daughter a netbook, since a lot of her work is on line, via google classroom and Moodle. Way more tech then when my first kid was in school ( my kids range from 11 to 26)
I also think that each kid should take at least one on line class for graduation, since many college classes are on line classes and it’s a skill they need to learn.
Marcia says
This is a tough one. I’m kind of a dinosaur, and I learn better by writing things down. But that’s not the way of the world anymore. At work I have a laptop, and I take notes in meetings on my laptop now.
But even then, flipping a notebook page is simply better for me.
Mavis Butterfield says
Me too!
Carrie says
My oldest is in Kindergarten, so I won’t comment about older grades. We have a zero technology policy at our house. We have no tv, the kids have no access to the computer or our phones. My kids know how to play and entertain themselves and do everything from helping to cook to running the log splittee (with suppervision of course).
We have a great kindergarten teacher who does very little technology in class. They do use tablets as one reading group center which I would prefer they did not. These ‘educational game’s are often not very educational and the kids spend more time bouncing between games than anything else.
I often work as a behavioral or instructional para in elementary school classrooms. There are some teachers that play ‘brain break video’s in between every instruction/activity. And play cartoons or videos during lunch time and incurable the kids to be quiet instead of talk. This really bothers me. Have you ever read a report about how kids are having too much screen time at home? How all this dependance on screena is changing they way they learn? Some of these classes are easily providing these kids with well over an hour of additional non educational screen time a day. And do you know why teachers are doing it? Because its easy. Its easy to plug them into that and not deal with them. It makes me very angry.
If you want to show something truly educational or use a computer for typing in elementary, research when they get older I think that’s fine, but be responsible and don’t add to the already high amount of mindless screen time these kids are Getting at home.
Cheri says
I am someone who hates most video/computer games but whose husband is a gamer and IT professional. Therefore, he is happy to have our kids play computer games and is the one who has encouraged most of it. I can’t live free of these games as I would like, so I am with you as far as that goes.
On the other hand, I have admit that some of the games my kids have played do seem like healthy, active leisure activities when not overused. Some games actively encourage creativity and even interaction with other kids. My son just created a cool building with different kinds of rooms on one game, and my daughter often plays with her friend on the same game through the computer. This is nice, because she lives too far away from her to spend much time with her in person. Could my son not spend his time building physical things instead? Sure–and he does. He is building his marble run as I type. As for TV, I love movies and excellent television shows. I’ve seen some amazing productions that did engage my mind, and I am glad I watched them. In the end, technology is just a tool that is in our control, like anything else–neither bad nor good in itself. Not that we have to like it or buy it–that is up to us.
I am in full agreement with you, though, on how teachers are using videos in class, though. When I found out that indoor recess on bad-weather days meant watching a video instead of playing board games or something, I got pretty upset and complained to the school. Even so, I think that teachers use videos as a crutch sometimes, rather than as a real part of the lesson. Very frustrating!
Emily E. says
I have a 16 year old son who is sort of a tech nerd. They started using an ipad in middle school and now use a laptop for school, all classes. For us, it’s been an absolute blessing! As a parent, it is so much easier to monitor his grades, assignments, and communicate with the teachers. My son could be very absentminded and I can’t tell you how many return trips to school we made trying to get notebooks, or assignments that he had to have done for the next day. We don’t do any of that anymore. Part of it is that he is more mature, but he is responsible for his electronics. The technology also is preparing them better for further education and public speaking. They do independent and group presentations and powerpoints. He has really grown through the technology. Some teachers are better at supervising tech/cell phones in class, but they all have rules about cell phone use. For us, it’s been wonderful.
Deborah says
Here in Texas, the high school students are issued a Tablet for school. They must be turned in at the end of the school year. Most have a NO Cell Phone policy. A lot of the schools here are no longer teaching script writing. Students can writ their papers in print form. I wonder how they will sign their names to contracts and things like that.
Andi says
For our son, having cell phone availability at school was a huge benefit. He is deaf and had great interpreters, but being able to have a conversation on his own with kids by pulling out their phones was great. Hearing doesn’t matter when you’re texting, and paper & pen is a lot slower. 😉 In general, it was understood that you could use your phone as a tool at certain times, but not as a toy. Students were good about following that, for the most part.
Lace Faerie says
Our three children are grown (27-31) and are starting their families now. I expect that my grandchildren will have a different school experience than their parents and a VERY different schooling than me. I was lucky as I had a set of the Children Encyclopedia Brittanica in my bedroom. I was never bored once my Daddy pointed out that I could pick a lettered volume and find something interesting to read and learn. I LOVED Encardia on our first computer. So I applaud the use of technology to further education.
Our kids were given their phones once they started driving but our youngest got it in middle school for my convenience of being in contact when I returned to work. We gave them laptops as a Going To College gift with the understanding that if they quit school before earning their degree, the laptops came back to me. As we did ourselves, they worked to pay their tuition. The laptops never came back to me.
I look at electronics as TOOLS not lifestyles. We need to educate our young and model self control with our own use of phones and other electronics. If you teach your children they need to learn to entertain themselves and interact properly with those around them then I don’t see a problem with them being tech savvy. In fact, by withholding electronics and computer interactions, it will put them at a severe deficit in their education and they will be at a disadvantage for advancement in the workforce.
Elaine says
Our district hands out individual iPads starting in 5th grade. I hate it. My son hates. His handwriting has gone down the tubes, his spelling too. It’s so hard to “turn it off” when all homework and assignments are on iPad so it’s virtually impossible to “take it away” for discipline reasons and I KNOW that all that time doing “homework” is half YouTube videos! What gets me is all the research and studies about how harmful all this tech is to kids and limiting screen time, etc…and the harm of social media, cyber bullying, etc… Yet every kid in our district (5 schools) has an iPad from 10yrs old on? Leaves me scratching my head….
Carrie says
To second the impossibility of taking it away…
My husband’s grandmother said to Mr “well I used to let the kids watch a show so I could cook dinner”. All I could say was how much tv was actually available to them? There was only a few hours a day of programming then and only half of that would have been geared to kids and probably all of it would have been appropriate for kids to see. Now there are numerous channels geared to kids, and half of that I question as to whether or not it is appropriate. Then you have video games, tablets, YouTube, phones, texting, iPods…once the door is opened there is no going back.
Someone else mentioned how if we don’t expose kids to technology they will not be able to complete. Technology today is not what it once was. The learning curve is very different. Give a kid an iPad who has never seen one before and they will have it figured out in five minutes. Now ask a kid to hold a conversation with an adult or hand write a paper who spends all there time on technology and it would be a struggle.
I figure Bill Gates didn’t have access to computers until he was in middle school (or around there) and he did pretty darn well for himself so I think today’s kids will do just fine without it.
Sue says
I just get frustrated with it all, I think young people are on all of this stuff way to much. Unfortunately it’s the way of things today. Really my grandchildren doesn’t want to hear me preaching about it. Guess everyone can tell I’m over the hill old fashion, I think children need to be creative outside and in the arts with hands on activities not glued to a phone or I-pad. Actually reading a wonderful old fashion book is a wonderful thing, holding it and smelling it is great for my senses.
Love that picture of Lucy, she has a wonderful personality.
JoAnn Moran says
I am a teacher and cell phones are the bane of my existence. I spend so much time asking kids to put them away that it majorly detracts from my teaching. I think they are addictive, brain ruining, education destroyers. Laptops used properly, on the other hand, can be a useful tool.
Practical Parsimony says
Joanne Moran,
I totally agree with you. The one child who is distracting the others and causing the teacher to drop the train of thought is ruining the educational experience. One day, a girl was texting a girl in another classroom. The teacher went down the hall and reported to her teacher that the girl was texting his student. The teacher in the second classroom had allowed the use of phones so she could get teacher work done and as a reward to her students. The first teacher had a no phone policy. The second did not care.
Teaching is actually fun for me. But, the use of cell phones takes the joy away.
Renee says
I teach a nursing assistant course for a local technical college system and we have a no cell phone policy for in the classroom and at clinicals. If they are using their phones during class, I get to take them for the rest of the day and deduct points from their grade for each occurrence. I love it!
Katie says
I taught special education and English for a couple of years before I became a full time SAHM. I had a “no cell phone” policy in my classroom because if I see a phone almost invariably it is being used for non school related things. Unfortunately, it was a constant battle. I would think that my students were peacefully working on their assignments when suddenly a girl would shout an expletive because someone called her a name on Facebook – and then she’d want an extension for completing the assignment she was supposed to be working on in class.
HollyG says
I had an administrator that pointed out that the issue is the behavior, not necessarily the devise. We should treat them in a similar fashion to any student that was disruptive. When I brought this up with my students and we talked about when the use of devises was appropriate (looking up information, taking photos of lab) and when it was inappropriate (taking pictures of other students, checking Instagram) things were considerably better.
Ashton says
Well, as a teacher, I think students should put their cell phones away during class. It especially makes me mad when they hide it in a book, purse, or even my desks. I am the teacher who has those desks that open. My students come into my room with their heads down in books, but their hands are moving so much. It’s too easy to tell they are texting. I think we all need a break. At least for one generation.