Essay Example about Benefits of Using Phones in School

Do you care about your student's education and learning environment? If you do then I suggest you consider the following. We've all seen it before, you walk into a school you see posters covering the walls saying off and away or this is a no phone zone. You see kids getting their phones taken away. You hear teachers saying ¨I shouldn't be seeing any phones out right now¨. But why? Why are schools so against phones? We've always been told that are a distraction but what if there not. People view phones very negatively but what if we gave them a more positive view? Phones aren't just a distraction they help keep students more engaged, help students study, and help improve student's safety at school. We can take phones and use them to help kids academically, mentally, socially, and emotionally. 

All over life, we've heard that phones are a distraction to students in school but what if it actually kept students more engaged? A recent Harvard study tracked student's attention during class and the study demonstrated that the students that had their phones focused more than the kids who did not have their phones. Now, this may not make sense because most people would think that the students with their phones would get distracted but it's the complete opposite. Think about it. In this time people are attached to their phones and when you don’t have your phone or are not able to go on it your mind is only thinking about your phone. The kids who did not have their phones would space out and think about their phones but the kids who had their phones were able to check them when they could and they were able to put their phones down and then focus on their work. This is because once a student is satisfied with their phone time they are open to focusing on school but when students don’t get phone time it distracted their mind and they don’t pay full attention. Has someone ever told you to not do something that made you feel more tempted to do the specific thing that person told you not to do well that's how students feel when schools say not to go on your phone. And I can speak personally on this because in one of my classes my teacher gives us a break where we can go on our phones and I am always really focused in this class if I know there is a designated time to go on my phone in that class then I will not think about my phone until the break time. But in other classes where I don’t have a break I catch myself drifting off and thinking about my phone and I find myself trying to take a peek at my phone without the teacher seeing me. Techlearning.com is a research company that focuses on technology and they had the research topic do phones distract students and they said that research shows the support that ¨phones can inspire and engage students by letting them lead their learning¨(techlearning). We need to adjust our learning environment for students today so they feel comfortable. Back then phones weren't a problem but now students can't live without their phones and taking away their phone rights in class distracts them and creates an unproductive learning environment. And giving students the freedom to go on their phones makes them feel in control of their learning just like what the article from tech learning said ¨letting them lead their learning.¨(techlearning) When teachers take away their phones they feel like they're not in control of their learning and we all know you learn best when you can adjust and create a learning environment that best fits you. 

Now and days people think people only use phones for social media and entertainment but people don’t think about how people can use it as a tool and specifically a learning tool in school. Oxford learning stated that cell phones give students access to tools and apps that helps students build good habits. Students could develop study habits by using helpful study apps that are not available on their computers. This could also give students the opportunity to work on time management and organization skills by keeping an online planner. This would help them stay on top of their classwork and help them build positive habits that would benefit them in the future. Another thing the article did not mention but something that I thought of was this could help students build self-control. Students need to learn how to control themselves and be able to stay off their phones and do work and not be on their phones the whole class. This could overall improve student's performances by keeping them more organized and motivating them to study. Emerald insight is a website that allows you to discover journals, books, and case studies and they recently did a survey on do students use their phones as a learning tool or entertainment and the majority said they use their phones as a learning tool less of entertainment during class. They also said that their phone keeps them more organized and helps them understand the material better. This shows that students use online planners and calendars to plan out their day so they can stay on top of everything. Also, there are many apps students can use to help study like Duolingo and yes some apps like Duolingo are offered on your Chromebook but there is a good amount of apps that are on our phones that are blocked on the Chromebook which limits the students learning but letting students use their phones could let them expand on there learning. 

Having phones does not only benefit students academically but it benefits their safety. The school shooting percentages have gone up in the past 15 years. Recently there was a shooting in Stoneman Douglas high school which is located in Flordia. There was a total of 17 deaths. That day 17 families lost someone and had their world shattered. This school did not allow phones. After the tragic event happened students and families were interviewed by NPR and parents said I wish my kid could have texted me. One parent even said ¨I had no idea there was a shooting for a while and I had no idea if my kid was safe or not which I think as a parent is critical to know¨. (NPR) Students even stated they would feel more comfortable in a situation like that if they could contact their families for many reasons but mainly so they know their families know what their status is and also their family can comfort them through the phone. Also, most parents give their kids phones so they can know where they are and make sure they're safe. They don’t give them phones so they can scroll on social media so we need to use phones for the reason they were given which is safety. Sandy hook promise is an organization that raises awareness about dangers in school and they did a current study that said shootings in schools have increased with 1,316 shootings since 1970. And with the increase of dangers in schools, we need to take safety precautions which means allowing students to have their phones in class so they can communicate with families. Having cell phones in schools gives students a way to communicate with families and others which could come in very handy in case of an emergency and it could even save a life. And it makes parents more comfortable sending their kids out to school where they can’t keep their eye on them. 

To sum up, phones can benefit students in so many ways. It can benefit them by keeping them interested in the class, help them stay on top of their classwork, and help them feel more comfortable at school. You are the principal of this school and I am sure all you want is to make the best learning environment for your students as you can and that might mean you have to let students use their phones. We can't just throw textbooks at kids and hope they can work will it because kids now are surrounded by technology and that is all they know so we need to do our best to keep up with them and upgrade our systems to best improve their learning experience by letting them use their phones in school. Now you may be thinking what about cheating one of the main reasons why schools don’t have phones. Well just because you have phones does not mean you can't set up some boundaries. You can say no phones during tests so there is no chance of cheating. There are other bumps in this plan but we can work our way around them. Now let's make a change and let students take control of their learning.