The Impact of Cell Phones on Educational Institutions

Cell phone use has become an integral part of everyday life. Everywhere you turn students are using cell phones to call, text, take pictures and even browse the internet. The advanced technologies that cell phones have taken on has affected educational institutions in a way that has increased the need to enforce policies that ban students from using cell phones while in school.

Educators Opposing Cell Phones

Teachers who oppose cell phones believe that students spend too much time texting their friends and that has an impact their ability to pay attention to the curriculum. According to Franz Prichard, an adjunct research associate of Clarity Innovations Inc., "Advanced phone technologies also increasingly challenge the methods of preventing students from cheating. Instant texts can share answers, camera-equipped phones can provide visuals on complicated problems and detailed voice messages can be exchanged between successive periods."

School Bans

Cell phones are considered a class disturbance. The disruptive method of talking to your friends through texting is a nuisance to educators who oppose cell phones use by students. Some school schools have created polices that prohibits use of cell phones by students at school. This, however, does not stop students from continuing to use their mobile phones to chat, play games and not pay attention during class.

Cell Phones Boosting Illegal Activity

Schools continue to revise their cell phone policies in order to protect both students and teachers. According to the National School Safety and Security Services, "Some schools banned pagers and cell phones starting a decade ago because of their connection to drug and gang activity, as well as due to the disruption to classes." Banning the use of cell phones helps decrease the risk of drug trafficking and gang-related conversation in schools.

Student Cell Phones Wreaking Havoc

Students have called in bomb threats to their schools using their cell phones in order to cause a disruption, spread fear and get out of class. Rumors also spread through cell phones which causes unneeded chaos among students and faculty. According to Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, "The rumors typically become greater than the issue, problem or incident itself. Attendance can go down overnight, and rumors can fly in minutes."

Advice

Students should be monitored by school officials, campus police and teachers to make sure that the use of cell phones in class is minimized. Parents should make their children aware of the fact that cell phone use in schools is prohibited and not proper behavior. Cell phones brought to school by older students should remain in the car, and younger children should leave their cell phones at home.

References

• Clarity Innovations: Youth and Cell Phones: Observations and Explorations
• National School Safety and Security Services: Cell Phone and Pager Issues

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish