In this technology-ridden world, smartphones have certainly topped the list of the most crucial and most frequently used modern devices designed by humans.

Today, whether it’s a kid in elementary school or an 80-year-old citizen, everyone is obsessed with what’s on their phone.

As far as the importance of smartphones in the classroom goes, the opinions remain divided and massively unclear. While most people think smartphones are a cheaper and more accessible multi-usage device that can enhance the classroom experience, many are of the opinion that it merely serves as a distraction for students.

In this blog, we will discuss whether smartphones are important for the classroom or not.

Cell Phone Use in The Classroom

Serves as A Means of Communication in Emergency Situations

The basic need of the advent of the mobile phone was mainly its usage in emergency situations where you are stranded with no other possible ways to communicate. That being said, times and situations are always recurring, and you can never predict an emergency. Having a cell phone at school means the student can inform their parents ASAP about any problems related to school. Whether it’s something as urgent as calling up the police or the fire department or merely calling up your parents for a quick ride home, cell phones can prove handy in situations like these.

As A Means of Improving Knowledge or Learning Experience

In olden times, when the only sources of knowledge were books and wise people, today with the help of the internet, students can access tons of information related to their curriculum. Whether it’s a quick scroll to YouTube to clear your basic scientific concepts or googling up a quick thesaurus to look for a new word, a cell phone is like a mini library for the student who is always on the go.

Get to Know All Around the World

Back in the day, if you wanted to get a quick update about the latest current affairs, you would turn on the television. Now, with mobile phones, students can conveniently google the news and get to know the current state of affairs globally. This is especially vital when kids are faced with an emergency situation.

The Drawbacks of a Cell Phone in Class

Unnecessary distractions: While cell phones are absolutely crucial, it is noteworthy to mention that mobile phones are the root cause of slowly drifting students away from classes. Not only is pornography and illicit content widely available on the internet, it is readily accessible and responsible for brainwashing millions of innocent minds every year.

Cyberbullying

Who says the power of social media is limited? It comes to show that basic human emotions such as fury, anger, and aggression are widely translatable to the digital world. Whether you are an introverted person or someone who lacks social gatherings, you could become the subject of cyberbullying. The worst part is that it can become so concealed and widespread that you are unable to identify the person responsible for all this.

Playing Games All Day

Now we get it, as a student, you can become overwhelmed under the weight of heavy study burden and tight deadlines. To achieve some level of relaxation, most students opt for gaming activities on their mobile. It becomes a problem when gaming becomes an addiction so severe that it affects the personal and academic lives of the student. While I do encourage everything in moderation, spending hours and hours on your mobile in the name of the game is certainly foolish and extremely damaging to the student’s mental health and academic performance.

Cheating During an Exam

While mobile phones are an excellent way of acquiring knowledge, they can be used wrongly to score better on a test by accessing the educational content available. This can lead to the inability to grasp the original concept, plus it’s only unfair for the student who studied wholeheartedly for the test to be rewarded a lower grade.

As the internet is filled with info and content, mobile phones are an excellent means of acquiring skills and knowledge. However, everything is certainly harmless when used in moderation. If the use exceeds a certain, it may hinder students’ performance.