Should Mobiles Phones And Laptops Be Banned From The Classrooms? Essay Sample

Since the advent of technology, all human aspects are now attached to technology in one way or the other. The use of the internet is one major concern in the modern world. Many students and indeed people may find themselves addicted to the internet and may either use them in work places or classrooms. One wonders whether the use of the internet affects the student to the extent that they cannot concentrate well in class. I believe that there are many negative effects of carrying mobile phones and laptops in the classroom that necessitates banning the use of mobile phones and laptops in the classrooms completely. I therefore switch off my phone, and do not carry my laptop to class for the following reasons.
According to Wainer, Dwyer, Dutra, Covic, Ferreira, Magalhaes, Pimeta, and Claudio (2008) the use of internet and computer is bad for ones grades especially if poor and young. It is evident that the excessive use of internet can be a cause of great distractions during the process of learning. The eventual resulting of such is that the student misses the main points during lectures and eventually fails in the exams. This happens since many students tend to carry either their laptops or mobile phones and use them while learning. The situation is made worse if the student is addicted to the use of internet. Internet use can be addictive just as all other activities that makes one behave in abnormal ways. One may not know when such addiction crops in unless they are portrayed in what one does. In this case, for as student, intent addiction would be portrayed by poor grades. Preston Phro (2014) confirmed the same case that the more internet a student uses, the lower the grades the student gets. In a study carried out in Japan, Phro asserts that student who used lesser internet score more than those who uses internet for long hours. It is thus clear that the use of internet or simply internet addiction would lead to poor grades. Such would bad if the students use mobile phones and laptops during learning to browse.
Moreover, it is not only the use of the intent that causes troubles in the classrooms. In most cases, students, and indeed the instructors more than often receive calls while in the classroom. As a matter of fact, it is obvious that some student have their best music as their ringtone or message tones that have loud volumes. Such distractions can cause a lot of disrupting to the whole class. Picture this, in class of fifty students, each with a mobile phone or laptops there is a high chance that at least five of them shall receive call during the lessons. Those using the laptops get pop up messages that disrupt the learning process. This was confirmed by Therese Mageau (2013) who asserted that one of the most notorious distractors during learning is the mobile phone. Moreover, some students are during enough to receive the calls during the learning process. In the event that happens, the whole class is disrupted from the leaning (Ira Hyman, 2014). Eventually, the students learn very little and end up scoring poor grades. For this reason, to avoid such problems, it is fair to ban mobile phones and laptops from the classrooms. One may wonder where they shall be taken, it is pretty easy, let each student have their mobile phones left at home, or switched off before entering the classrooms.
The continued use of laptops and mobile phones do not only cause distractions, but also reduce the contact between the teachers and the students. In the process of learning, the contact between the teacher and the learners is very critical as it enhances learning. It is with only good eye contact, interactions, etc. that can help the teacher gauge whether the students are learning. In the event that such does not occur, the learning process is completely affected. Why then risk? Let the mobile phones and even laptops be barred from classrooms. It has been established that typing notes instead of writing them by hand does no help the learners improve on their writing skill. Writing activates the brains in such a way that during the process of handwriting, one can improve both the language as well as understanding the concepts well. Therefore, the use of the laptops to type notes, although it seems to make work easier, is indeed affecting the performance of the student negatively. Lastly, the mere presence of the mobile phones and computer screen that are made to catch the attention for the user would also reduce the concentration levels of the students.
In conclusion, it is evident that the uses of mobile phones and laptops in the classroom, especially during learning causes more harm than benefits to the students. Mobile phones cause distractions as they ring randomly in the classroom during learning, some with beautiful ringtones, whiles others have nasty ones. In addition, some students tend to answer calls in the class distracting the rests. The laptops screens and pop up messages also distracts student. The problem, as indicates is made worse if the students are addicted to the use of the internet such that they cannot avoid it even during the classroom. All this reduces the contact between the leaners and the teachers that has an overall negative effect to the learning process and eventually to the students’ grades. Therefore, it is right to completely ban both mobile phones and laptops in classrooms. Let student take notes in the traditional way to improve on their language and grasp the concepts better.

Works cited

Ira Hyman. Ban Computers and Cell Phones from Classrooms. 2014. Web. Accessed on March 3, 2015 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201409/ban- computers-and-cell-phones-classrooms
Preston Phro. Study reveals too much Internet and video games is bad for your grades. The Rocket News Jan. 3, 2014. Accessed on March 1, 2015 from http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/01/03/shocking-study-reveals-too-much-internet-is- bad-for-your-grades
Therese Mageau. Should We Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom? THE Magazine. Web. 01/09/13. Accessed on March 3, 2015 from http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/01/09/should-we-ban-cell-phones-in-the- classroom.aspx
Wainer J., Dwyer T., Dutra R.S., Covic A., Ferreira R. R. L., Magalhaes V.B., Pimeta V. A., and Claudio K. Too much computer and Internet use is bad for your grades, especially if you are young and poor: Results from the 2001 Brazilian. 2008. Accessed on March 1, 2015 from http://www.ic.unicamp.br/~wainer/papers/comp-edu.pdf