Leave Your Electronic Devices Behind While Attending Class
The need to pay attention in class is something we are all made aware of from a young age, although electronic devices have changed the scope of what this means now sometimes. This can be especially difficult in the formative years as the hours wear on in the day and all we want to do is go home. Heading into college and graduate school, however, the need to be there is transformed for many into a want, and a burning desire to succeed—especially when students are paying for classes on their own. Getting the most out of class as an adult is vital to future success, not only in graduating, but being able to practice a skill set later. Sometimes paying attention is easier said than done, however.
No matter how dedicated you may be as a student, there is always the potential for distraction. This begins in the mind, as you may be tired or hungry or worrying about a personal issue, bills, a job, or an internship. You may be using an electronic device that is necessary for school for note-taking or other purposes, but whenever possible leave the phones, tablets, and other devices in your backpack or at home. If note-taking is the only reason you are taking the electronics with you to class, keep in mind that writing them down with old-fashioned pen and paper is more effective for retention later.
And while it is true that smartphones and other devices that you may enjoying using for a variety of different applications may feel like something you cannot live without—and don’t want to—they are under a great deal of fire for many reasons today, from distracted driving (the top reason for car accidents today) to couples splitting up. Classroom time is no exception, and recent news points out that electronics in the classroom may be leading to lower test scores.
“The intrusion of internet-enabled electronic devices (laptop, tablet and cell phone) has transformed the modern college lecture into a divided attention task,” states information from the study by Arnold L. Glass and Mengxue Kang.
“When considered in the context of a classroom, allowing students to divide attention between an electronic device for a non-academic purpose and the classroom may also have the social effect of distracting other students who are not trying to divide attention.”
Researchers found that success on exams could be diminished by as much as five percent, and in many cases, half a grade lower than usual. This may go against excitement in schools to bring laptops in, as well as tablets—sometimes even offering them to students—but much of the problem is the ease in which other non-educational platforms can be reached, such as social media.
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