There are plenty of people from older generations who never had to deal with the distraction that cell phones present by the fact that cell phones did not exist at the time that they went to school. On the other hand, cell phones are so ubiquitous nowadays that a significant percentage of students, even of a very young age, bring their cell phones to school each and every day and thereupon use those cell phones in activities that are typically not relevant to their education. Further to the point, cell phones in the hands of young people who are in school, serve not only as a constant distraction but also have additional troublesome issues in the sense that the usage of such, combined with social media posts, can easily lead to bullying, inappropriate comments, and activities that are clearly detrimental to the primary task of school, which is learning.
Look, it has to be recognized, that adults know for a certainty how distracting cell phone usage is, even when that cell phone is set up to be silenced, because anytime that our cell phone vibrates or sends us a signal that there is a text message or email, it serves to break our concentration on the task at hand, and makes us curious instead about what information is on our cell phone. So too, people can spend an incredible amount of time every day, throughout the day, checking their “feed” on their phone, or posting messages, or reading posts of “friends” on their phone, or in the playing of games, and so on and so forth. Indeed, since many adults seem incapable of following prudent rules in regard to how they will interact with their cell phone during work hours, it quite obviously indicates that youngsters will be even more challenged with such.
In regards to teachers, it is hard enough to get students to be engaged especially in those subjects, which they give the impression that they don’t care all that much about, as well as to have to deal with not only all the historic distractions that a school class filled with young people can present, but also with the present day trouble of cell phones, that compete against the teacher in the sense of where that student’s mind will be at. Additionally, there is the danger, that cell phones represent, in which those who lack self-discipline or self-restraint, see cell phones as an easy way to post comments or pictures that are sure to stir up trouble, and if not for that cell phone, that trouble may not have so easily happened or even occurred.
The primary purpose of education is to educate those that are in school, and that which predominately does not serve to benefit those students in the attainment of that valued education is most appropriately represented by the inappropriate use of cell phones. The fact of the matter is, that those students who cannot resist using their cell phones during class hours are the very same who need to have their cell phones taken out of their hands, in order to at least provide them with a fair opportunity to learn something of import, which is the main function of attending school.