Texting while learning

Texting While Learning
Cell phones have become a big part of all of our lives. We use them when we are eating, at work, and some people even use their cell phones when driving. There’s one place in particular where we use our cell phones that might be causing us harm and we don’t even know it, it’s the classroom. Whether you know it or not, being on your cell phone in class decreases your ability to learn, comprehend and store material.
Have you ever wondered why teachers don’t want students on their cell phones while class is going on? Is it because they want to control you? Is it because they’re mean and unfair? No, it’s for your own good that you don’t use your cell phone in class. A June 2012 journal from Sterling College entitled “EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM CELL PHONE USE ON EXPECTED AND ACTUAL LEARNING” gives us many reasons on why we shouldn’t text while in class. It states that surveys document high rates of students who carry and use their cell phone during class. Another survey was taken to determine the actual effect texting has on your performance. On this survey, students estimated the number of questions they could answer out of 10 when texting and when not texting. For the experiment, they used a repeated measures design with simulated classroom presentations and measured performance on a 10-item quiz. Students expected to lose close to 30% on a quiz and actually did lose close to 30% when texting. Now, I don’t know about you, but a text is not worth me getting a 70% when I could get a 100%.
They also tell us how texting effects drivers and compare that to the effect texting has on us in the classroom. They state that studies of drivers using cell phones reveal that the cognitive distraction of conversations significantly increases accident risk. The cognitive load from cell phones produces inattention blindness for drivers. Doing things like listening to music, a recorded book, or talking on the phone (a voice call) did not produce high accident risks like texting does. These findings are important for considering the potential effects of classroom texting on students ' ability to learn presented material. Texting is conversational, though it involves visual instead of auditory "listening" as students read incoming messages, and manual instead of verbal "talking" as they reply. If conversational cognitive load increases accident risk for drivers, the same cognitive load should increase errors on tests of lesson material presented while students are texting.
In another study 40 students agreed to participate in (21 men and 19 women), the participants had their phones with them in a classroom. They were given two lessons and were quizzed on them. During the first lesson, they were required to text while, at the same time, listen to the lesson. During the second lesson, they could not use their cell phones. The results of this survey showed that the quiz scores were lower when the students were texting than when they did not text. When they took the quiz on the lesson that they were required to text, their results were 27% lower.
With the information I have gathered, it is clear that texting while in class does in fact decrease your ability to learn and do well in class. So, next time your teacher is discussing something important, or anything for that matter, and you receive a text…. Just ignore it.

Works Cited
JASMIN D. CHACON, et al. "Effects Of Classroom Cell Phone Use On Expected And Actual Learning." College Student Journal 46.2 (2012): 323-332. Education Research Complete. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.

Cited: JASMIN D. CHACON, et al. "Effects Of Classroom Cell Phone Use On Expected And Actual Learning." College Student Journal 46.2 (2012): 323-332. Education Research Complete. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.