Freed, Richard. “Why Phones Don’t Belong in School.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Apr. 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-freed/why-phones-dont-belong-in-school_b_9666730.html. Accessed 31 Aug. 2017

            Richard Freed, a child and adolescent psychologist, specializes in children and teen’s relationship with technology. The Huffington Post is a website covering a variety of topics from world news to politics to cultural trends and is centered towards a younger left-leaning audience. The article begins with a quote from a high school teacher recounting how asking a student to put their phone away in class today would “…require multiple conversations with a majority of my class.” Dr. Freed later makes the point that while they have the potential to serve as excellent learning tools, cell phones mainly serve as excellent distractions for most students. A little further along he explains that excessive phone usage while at school provides more opportunity for students to either participate in or be the victims of cyberbullying. The conclusion of the article should be one of conviction for school leaders, as it challenges them to step up and keep students focused on their academics rather than their phones.

 

Schaffhauser, Diane. “Research: College Students More Distracted Than Ever.” Campus Technology, 20 Jan. 2016, https://campustechnology.com/articles/2016/01/20/research-college-students-more-distracted-than-ever.aspx?m=2. Accessed 31 Aug. 2017

            Diane Schaffhauser is a freelance writer on business, education, and technology, as well as a senior contributing editor for Campus Technology. Campus Technology is a digital magazine for leaders of higher education, replacing the highly acclaimed Syllabus magazine. In a much more data driven article, Schaffhauser begins with the statistic that students check their phones “…an average of 11.43 times during class for non-classroom activities.” She then cites research from Associate Professor Barney McCoy which states that not only has the level of distraction worsened for students, but the majority of it has taken the form of texting. Schaffhauser shows that while students recognize that there is a problem, in majority they refuse to deal with it so that they can cope with the boredom of class. She then offers up McCoy’s solution of putting responsibility for change on both the students and teachers.

 

Weimer, Maryellen. “The Age of Distraction: Getting Students to Put Away Their Phones and Focus on Learning.” Faculty Focus, Magna Publications, 23 May 2016 https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/the-age-of-distraction-getting-students-to-put-away-their-phones-and-focus-on-learning/. Accessed 1 Sep. 2017

            Maryellen Weimer has been contributing articles to Faculty Focus weekly since 2008, writing The Teaching Professor Blog. The main goal of Faculty Focus is to inform teaching strategies to college educators. Weimer first points out that students can’t handle multitasking learning and whatever distractions that they find on their personal devices. She supports claims of heavy student distraction with a study from Jeffery Kuznekoff and Scott Titsworth. Making the claim that “students and their devices have become virtually inseparable,” she adds that they refuse to acknowledge the negative impact using their devices has on any secondary activity. She suggests a solution of making students face the evidence and even doing an in-class activity that would give them a real opportunity to understand the facts.

 

“Texting and Tweeting in the Classroom: How Do They Impact Student Learning?” Science Daily, 4 June 2015, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150604141531.htm. Accessed 1 Sep. 2017

. Science Daily shows that while phone usage in the             Gaining the respect of a variety of professional groups, Science Daily has become the most popular source of Science news on the internet. In a very factual, data based article, Science Daily puts forth the main points of another study from Jeffery Kuznekoff. Research has shown that students that respond to text message take poorer notes. But with more teachers bringing phone based lessons into the classroom, what effect does that have on student’s focus? The research reveals that responding to lesson related messages while in class has a similar effect on students as note takingclass room always has potential for distraction and poorer grades, there could be benefits from lesson based use.