In the last class, both debate topics were similar and I think the teams provide great facts and information about the topic. As discussed and shared in the class, be it a social media or a cell phone; an Educator or Parent Guidance plays a great role in making their children learn about the best usage of it. Excess of everything is bad; so having a balance in using social media or proper use of cell phone is necessary. I was on the agree side of this topic as I also think that Cell phones have become one of the major distractions in the classroom and as shared by the Agree team (Amanpreet, Lovepreet, and Echo); they shared amazing facts and threats that a cell phone can create in child’s life especially studying in a classroom. Nomophobia is resulting in poor academic results and affects the school performance of a child. Also, as shared by Amanpreet; buying expensive cell phones can create jealousy in other students, especially the ones who cant afford better technology phones. However, Cell phone usage is not only give a negative impact, it provides some good effects as well. As shared by the disagree team (Bret, Reid, Leona) they provided some good opportunities and effects that Cell phones give to students. Clearly, technology is required when learning outside of the classroom, particularly for remote learning or flipped classrooms. But physically, in school, the vast majority of students want to use their smartphones for academic purposes.
Mobile phones in school have been linked to cyberbullying and problems from social media and online videos – and schools have policies on how they can be used and some already have bans in place. There have also been concerns about the sharing of internet pornography through mobile phones, highlighted after the Everyone’s Invited website revealed a culture of sexual harassment among some school students.
“Mobile phones are not just distracting, but when misused or overused, they can have a damaging effect on a pupil’s mental health and well-being. I want to put an end to this, making the school day mobile-free. “In order for us to help pupils overcome the challenges from the pandemic and level up the opportunity for all young people, we need to ensure they can benefit from calm classrooms which support them to thrive,” said Mr. Williamson.
Positive effects of Cell phones in Classroom
Students have already found ways of using cell phones in school for academic purposes, even if their instructor isn’t integrating technology into lessons. Students are also using their cellphones in the classroom to access digital textbooks and, most commonly, to take photos of lecture slides. Cellphones have made the practice of active learning much more straightforward to manage. Apps and student engagement platforms help. Classroom quizzes, discussions, and other active learning ideas can all be executed on a mobile device. And, as previously mentioned, many students say that they are willing to use their devices for this. Robert Shuter, the founder of The Center for Intercultural New Media Research, explains. “Mobile devices can significantly enrich learning, according to myriad studies, as long as instructors carefully integrate them into their teaching and judiciously monitor their use.”
To conclude, Cell phones are the major requirement of the students in the present age. Students want to take their cell phones to school. According to research, 58% of students bring cell phones to banned schools which promotes a negative trend in schools. By allowing cell phones we can take control over the promotion of negative attitudes. Mobile phone use at the school can teach the children digital responsibility and citizenship. Students learn their moral and social responsibilities while using technology. Educational institutions and teachers teach students about the positive use of cell phones at the early stages of education. Teachers teach them about the rights of the other students and social norms. The cell phone also promotes communication skills of the students that help them in developing positive citizenship behavior.
Thanks,
Gunpreesh Kaur 🙂
Insightful, I agree with your post. Not having a strict policy on mobile phone use in the classroom is temptation for students to go on their social media networks( WhatsApp, Instagram etc.) I think appropriate approach should be ensured by the teacher.
Thanks for your reflection. I agree with your thoughts that we should find a right balance and guide our kids to effectively use smartphones. Allowing cellphones in a classroom is beneficial (as explained by Team 2), but we can not ignore the issues of cyberbullying, sexting, digital divide, and so on. All these creates a negative impact on student’s mind and sometimes it give rise to suicide.
I remember the “Blue Whale” game that got popular and how kids killed themselves just for not completing the challenge. As a parent or teacher, we should always supervise the kids and guide them to be a good citizen online.
great post! thank you for sharing!
i agree with you, but despite having ban on mobile phones in the classroom, more and more students are bringing their devices in their classroom, which is badly affecting teaching-learning process. and teachers find, policies regarding ban on the devices are inappropriate and useless, therefore, i believe, an educators we should encourage students to stay in the real world more than virtual world and re-establish their student-student interactions and face-face to connections.
Thanks for your detailed and insightful post. I like how you started by discussing the challenges and concerns with cell phones in the classroom, and then moved into how and why we shouldn’t completely ban them. I agree that we definitely have some work to do with how we navigate the use of cell phones in schools. But I also agree that we still need to include them so that we can guide students, teach then acceptable us and model how to use them in a more positive way.