A teacher shared an eye-opening post to show just how disruptive cell phones are in classrooms.
The high school teacherfrom the US, asked his students to turn their phones on loud for a class, just to see how many notifications they received.
Each time they receive a notification, students upload and mark under a category that includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X (officially Twitter), emails, texts, phone calls and more.
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Alarmingly, the class received more than 1,100 notices in one period.
In an attempt to ban phones in all schoolsthe teacher explained how “every single one of these grades is an interruption in the student’s learning.”
“Cell phones can be toxic to a learning environment.“
The viral post has been making the rounds on social media for the past few years, with many divided on the matter.
“Wow, how sad,” said one.
“This is why phones are not allowed at my daughter’s school. They go into the locker and can’t get them out until the end of the day, off school grounds,” added another.
“Wow, that must have been distracting for everyone,” added a third.
However, not everyone agreed, with many suggesting that the phones were not the problem.
“I don’t agree just because the phone goes off doesn’t mean they’re going to look at it,” said one.
“Wrong if the phones were on silent they wouldn’t interfere with the child and their learning,” added another.
“Well, if we could be consistent in teaching them self-control and keeping them quiet. It will be there if there is an emergency. Learn self-control,” said a third.
In Australia, mobile phones are currently banned in all public schools, as well as in many Catholic and independent schools in the country.
Last year, the NSW Government banned the use of phones in state schools during the day – including at recess and lunch.
Phones should either sit in lockers, be stored in school bags or in the office, out of sight, for the rest of the day.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Carr, said the ban was to ensure New Wales students were not distracted by phones at school.
“This ban creates a level playing field across all public schools in NSW and means students can focus on what’s most important – learning in the classroom,” she said.
“This will help provide more productive classrooms for students and teachers, reducing opportunities for distraction and cyberbullying.”
“What we’ve heard from schools that already have bans in place gives me real confidence that this common sense measure will improve student learning and social outcomes.”
Independent magazine The Conversation conducted research into whether bans on mobile phones in schools are effective.
The research found that four studies showed there was a “slight improvement in academic achievement when phones were banned in schools”.
However, two of the studies found that the improvement “applied only to disadvantaged or low-achieving students.”
Overall, the journal concluded that the evidence for banning cell phones in schools was “weak and inconclusive.”
