Smartphones in the Hands of Students: Gateway to Knowledge or Distraction?

The importance of phones in our world today can't be overstated, as it has, in many ways, made life easier, from communication to real-time access to information and entertainment, such as games, music, and movies, to name but a few. But then, regardless of how important it is to our world and us humans, do you think it'll be ideal for students to be allowed to use this device in the school? In this article I'll be exploring this topic as someone who has passed through this phase as a one time student, a teacher and someone who wants the best for students, so without further ado let's get to it.

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So, as stated above, we can all agree that a phone is very essential in life, and if a student has one and uses it for the right purpose in school, it can go on to enhance their learning and understanding of each lesson they're taught; it can also go on to inspire critical thinking and research that'll go on to even make teaching and learning more fun, seamless, and encouraging, but will students really use it for this purpose solely, or will they use it for something else entirely?

You see, I was a high school student in the era when smartphones first became a thing in my country, Nigeria, and what I'm going to say below is based on what I noticed during that period among students that had phones and brought them to school. Firstly, it's worth noting that phones weren't allowed in my account back then for students. Soon those who brought it snuck it into the school, and one thing I notice about its usage in the school is that it's more of a distraction to the students than a useful tool to help enhance learning.

Back then, you'll see the few students who have phones being encroached upon by other students who ought to be reading or doing something else, and things they'll be doing on the phone could be watching movies, playing games, or chatting with ladies; such is also being used to make friends and get ladies numbers, not forgetting how they use it for examination malpractice during exams, using it to search through the internet for answers to questions, in the present day with AI that would even go beyond how it was in my days.

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Back in our days, if you were caught with phones, such students would be scolded, but such can't happen again as the government has prohibited corporal punishment towards students, so all the teacher can do is cease the phone, but like I said, even though the phone can be valuable in aiding learning for students, I won't advise its usage or approval in school because it'll mostly be a source of distraction to the students that'll distance them from paying attention to the major reasons why they were allowed to bring and use their phone in school.

Back then, during my high school days, we didn't have many top-notch games, but when the basic ones on these Nokia phones, like soccer, bounce, and the likes, were being played, we even used them as an avenue to bet on who'd score more goals or qualify to win the competition held in the game, not getting other distractions in Java and Symbian phones, alongside distractions from social media and other apps that were available on the phone.

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With all of these points being considered, I'll personally go against allowing phones to be allowed in school entirely, be it during classes, tests, or examinations, because it'll only distract the students and only be used as an advantage avenue to cheat during tests, classwork, and exams rather than be used to enhance learning; it'll also discourage thorough reading and students interest in deep understanding of the subject matter, as they'll go on to solely depend on AI on their phones and Google to give them answers to anything being asked by the teachers.

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All photos are probably sourced.

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