Pros And Cons Of Cell Phones In School

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School boards are faced with a dilemma according to cell phone use at school. The dilemma includes a week titled “Shut Down Your Screen Week.” Three articles are used to help debate the problem to find a solution. All three articles presented explain the pros and cons of cell phone use. Some authors explain that without phones people’s focus is more enhanced, others explain that cell phones serve as an aid to provide quick information. In fact, students would overall benefit from participating in “Shut Down Your Screen Week.” One of the main points of the argument is that students would become more concentrated and focused during school hours if they did not have their cell phones to distract them. If students are distracted they may miss…show more content…
When students are given the option to utilize their phone, it becomes their main priority. Many students would rather text, play music, or play games. When someone is listening to music while doing their work, their brain can’t concentrate on the main task at hand. A study created by Mr, Ophir attempted to prove if multitasking was favorable for the brain. Mr. Ophir’s results showed “the multitaskers took longer than non-multitaskers to switch among tasks, like differentiating vowels from consonants and then odd from even numbers.” Mr. Ophir’s test results gave him the information to prove that multitasking is worse for a person’s brain. When a person multitasks they are trying to focus on more than one task. They may try to focus on the topic more severely than the others, but their mind is still thinking about everything laid out in front of them. Some people may argue that cell phone use enhances one’s focus and provide information that may be useful for one’s work. For example, the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” proposes the point that “The Internet contains the…show more content…
When students aren’t faced with distractions, they can respond to the questions with more creative answers and more confidence. Students are used to being in front of a screen that when they need to unplug they begin to crave the feeling of being on a device. The article “Addicted to Technology and Paying the Price” illustrates how forgetful people become when they unplug from their phones: “Mr. Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of the deluge of data. Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets. He forgets things like dinner plans, and he has trouble focusing on his family” (Richtel). This piece of evidence supports the claim that people are addicted to their cell phones. People are so used to relying on them for everything they do that their memory begins to decrease. Dinner plans are being forgotten, let alone other plans that somebody may have. If people continue to do this to themselves, in a matter of time they will not be able to remember anything. If people do not utilize their own brain to help them, they will appear to become useless. This claim can also be supported by the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” “If you're really interested in developing your mind, you should turn off your computer and your cell phone—and start thinking” (Carr).

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