I will be the first to admit that I am addicted to my phone. I am not proud to admit that I am addicted to my phone, but ultimately, I am a product of the 21st century environment. A teacher once asked my class, “Do students stay on their phones during class because they’re afraid they are going to miss something?” His question made me think: Why do students use their phones in class?
As adults, we have the option to be active in class or to be in class at all. I am extremely guilty of using my phone during a lecture. This does not make me or you a bad student, but rather, this makes us students who are products of our generation. Our professors have had to learn to adapt while teaching students in the age of technology.
On top of that, COVID made learning harder for everyone. We became accustomed to high levels of screen time in a short window. If I am being candid with you, and honest with myself, most of my class periods consisted of a muted Zoom while I was on my phone scrolling. As a result, in-person learning has forced us to re-hardwire our new normal.
In my personal opinion, I believe our attention spans have become so short that for many of us, it is hard not to immediately look at our phones when we receive a notification. It is a common trend to blame COVID for so many societal changes in such a short period, but I believe there are reasonable explanations as to why learning looks so different these past few years.
To answer the question my teacher asked my class, I do believe that our generation suffers from an extreme case of FOMO, or fear of missing out. Our exposure to constant media has made it near impossible for us to put down our phones for a lecture.
All of that being said, I am not here to persuade you to not use or to use your phone while in class. I believe that while in class, we should be present and engaged in a way that works best for the individual. Our notifications, social media scrolling, and access to screentime are not disappearing while we are in a fifty-minute class.
I won’t speak for every college student, but I do believe my words might resonate with a few students on our campus. We should give our professors some grace as they are learning to teach in a technologically-centered generation, but we should also give ourselves grace in recognizing that we are also learning self-control in terms of media. I am not a perfect student by any means, and will probably remain a victim of phone usage in class again, but we should challenge ourselves to give up some screen time in exchange for a more engaging class experience.
