Cell Phones in School—Is It a Problem?
Traven outside playing 'Among Us' on his phone
As time goes on, more and more students carry personal devices with them. Due to the overwhelming use of cell phones, is it starting to interfere with students’ education, or is it becoming an incredible new tool for schooling? In a 2023 Common Sense Media study, experts found that ninety-seven percent of students used their phones every day, not just for educational purposes, but for social media, YouTube, or games. I believe that for some people, the overuse of cell phones in a day is a problem. But the study also revealed that some students spent over six and a half hours on their phones, while others had less than a minute. If this time was geared toward educational purposes, it would be a different story.
The average number of pickups in a day was 51 times, but this is a little biased because many students had just over two pickups, while the highest number was 498 times in a day. This number is highly affected by the school’s rules on phone use. The Common Sense Media study also found that the students they monitored that went to schools with these rules had an extremely low number of pickups and screen time.The Common Sense Media study found that when a student did open their phone, they turned to apps/sites that are hardly educational. These included social media platforms (TikTok, Instagram) 32 percent of the time, YouTube 26 percent, and gaming 17 percent.
So, when looking at the stats, I believe that when rules restricting cell phones are put into place, students and teachers are positively benefited by it. They spend much more time on their studies and less time on our personal devices.
