Cell Phone Addiction is a Issue in Schools

Cell Phones are great resources for news, information, entertainment, contacting family/friends etc., but they can be a huge distraction. Cell phone addictions have a huge impact on students performance in the classroom as well as their communication skills.

Cell Phones Impact on Students Academic Perfomance

• Procrastination

Procrastination can occur from the distraction of cell phones. When studying you’ll find your self taking a short break or you could just be getting notifications emails or text, which alters your focus. Small things like this is very time consuming and it’s always near the deadline when you notice how fast time pass by. Now you’ll be rushing to get an assignment done last minute. Due to extensive research I have found that “a lot of students tend to think that they are good at multitasking. Those who multitask are more likely to harm their academic performance (Kowalski, 2018).” Multitasking is time consuming and causes people to study longer hours than necessary.

• Retaining Information

Students will not retain information or material taught because their focus is on their phones. Research also show that students are having memory loss issues and the main contribution to that is smartphones (Fitzgerald, 2018).

• Failing Classes

Due to the fact that students aren’t focusing in class or retaining material they are not able to past test. Deadlines aren’t met because of poor time management which means grades will decline.

Cell Phones Impact on Students Communication Skills

• Texting

Texting is a fast way to reach someone but it has reduced face to face conversations. Texting causes escalated conflict or drama because of the misinterpretations and inaccurate assumptions that occur when reading text messages.

• Short Attention Span

Normal conversations do not occur when people are addicted to their cellphones. I know a couple of people who tune others out when they are using their phones for entertainment purposes . My way of getting their attention after repetitively calling their name is to cover their phone.

• Face to face communication

Due to communicating through technology teens lack skills necessary to start up or hold a face to face conversation. This skill is significant for finding jobs and doing interviews. According to Stewart’s “ Does Cell Phone Use Really Affect Our Communication Skills?” article, communicating verbally in the future will be tough for teens to adjust to as they transition into adulthood.

How can we solve this issue?

There are several possible ways to solve this problem:

• Data blocker in schools

Schools already have the website blockers for the WiFi but students can easily avoid that obstacle and use their data. The invention of a product that blocks cellular data and create dead zones in a school would help avoid extreme usage of cell phones.

• Timer App

Create a app that locks your phone during a certain time of the day. Accessibility to phone calls, and other apps that come with the phone will not be affected.

• Parents having access

Parents having access to their child’s phone from their phone where they are able to lock it when their child isn’t being productive.

• Confiscate Phones before Class

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Patricia. “Is Smartphone Addiction Ruining Your Memory?” Thrive Global, Thrive Global, 23 Feb. 2018, www.thriveglobal.com/stories/23943-is-smartphone-addiction-ruining-your-memory.

Kowalski, Kathiann. “When Smartphones Go to School.” Science News for Students, 9 Sept. 2018, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/when-smartphones-go-school.

Stewart, Erin. “Does Cell Phone Use Really Affect Our Communication Skills?” The Lance, 25 Nov. 2013, lhslance.org/2013/features/cell-phone-use-really-affect-communication-skills/.