The first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. I scroll through Twitter and Instagram, reply to emails, text messages and Snapchat. I read the news and watch Youtube. I repeat these steps, and before I fall asleep, I do them all again. The cycle starts over the next morning, and now, it’s a habit.
Technology is one of the biggest distractions in life. New tech products are created every day, and people have come to depend on them.
Technology took years to absorb into society, but today, its presence can grow in months, if not days. Most people cannot leave the house without their smartphone. We check our phones hundreds of times a day, and it has interwoven into our lives.
In an investigative story for 60 Minutes, multiple professors and doctors reported that teenagers and college students spend approximately four and a half hours on their phones each day. These numbers vary by person, but potentially, a quarter of someone’s day can be spent looking at a phone screen.
Smartphones have features that track phone usage, noting screen time, pick-ups and notifications. It is a good way for students to see how much they use their phones and limit how often they do, especially during class time.
In 2015, Dian Schaffhauser from Campus Technology reported that 63 percent of students use their phones as a way to “fight boredom” during class.
At large universities, lectures can consist upward of 200 students, so teachers and students do not interact or have personal connections. Teachers could look for ways to engage students, rather than the monotonous routine of typical lecture settings. However, the problem does not lie solely on teachers.
Phones have lowered students’ ability to concentrate. The persistent itch to check for notifications looms over students in a classroom setting, especially if the phone is left on the desk or in a clothing pocket. Leaving your phone in your backpack during class is the best way to beat this temptation.
Most smartphones are equipped with a “do not disturb” feature that blocks all notifications until the user actively unlocks the phone. This limits the number of pop-ups a student can see. It is a matter of self-discipline and if students are willing to forego the constant digital presence for a few hours of class.
Schaffhauser noted the dominant form of distraction is texting, given that 87 percent of students who use their phones in class admitted to sending messages as their main source of phone use. Following texting, emailing and “checking the time” were the next most popular reasons.
Consequences, although seemingly small, can have devastating impacts on a student’s learning and academic performance. Harvard University advises professors to limit technology use in classrooms. In a survey of their students, 80 percent of students agreed that phone usage limits learning and concentration. Because of this, constant phone use in the classroom could lead to lower quality notes, less information retained and poor scores on exams.
Student technology is distracting for neighboring classmates. If a student is working on non-class material or browsing social media, it distracts those sitting around them. Using a laptop or a phone gives direct access to the internet, social media, text messaging and other disruptive activities that jeopardize student’s learning. Students not paying attention wastes their time, their classmates’ time and their professors’.
Students who do not regulate their phone use threaten their academic performance and their mental health. Social media’s purpose to connect people. In doing so, people’s lives are shared for people to see, which can be a great way to stay in touch and see what is going on in the world. However, digital addiction and frequent social media use may be correlated to higher levels of isolation, anxiety, depression and loneliness, according to Michael Dolan from Everyday Health.
Through social media, college students are watching other people have experiences, make friends and succeed in school or work. Students can feel alone if they are at home while others are out having a good time, or they become nervous thinking that they are not doing enough to excel in the future. The stream of content is overwhelming.
Technology’s presence in a typical student’s life is massive. The dependence on phones has been ingrained in this generation’s life, to the point of becoming hazardous. Individuals can change their behaviors: ignoring their phone during class, setting screen time limits and taking breaks from social media. By spending hours of our day on our phones, we lose time that could be spent actually living.
Maddie Peters can be reached at pete9542@stthomas.edu.