Bad Cell Phones

Bad Cell Phones

In today's society everywhere we look people of all ages and genders are parading with their cell phones. Whether we are driving, or walking down the aisle in the grocery store, and even in class, cell phones have become a part of our everyday lives. Although most students like to text in class, it shouldn't be allowed because cell phones might tempt students to cheat, and just be a major distraction for everyone.

While paying attention is not a requirement of attending class, it seems immature to pay a lot of money to sit in class and text your friends. Also, if you don't want or need to pay attention, others in the class may usually want to and you are distracting them. Since they also paid to attend the class, they have just as much of a right to listen without you disturbing them when you use your cell phone. I agree that having a cell phone in class can be beneficial under the right circumstances, but using one in class should be strictly forbidden, except in an emergency circumstance. Having a cell phone in class is actually a good idea. It can be available to call for help if an emergency situation happens. However, students' cell phones should always be turned off and left in their book bags while in class. Cell phones, PDA's and other electronic devices can be used for cheating. It is impossible to know all of the time that student's hands are empty when they are sitting down on their desks. Teachers can move around the room and monitor closely, but it is just too hard to monitor when students are taking exams, etc. Whether they are connecting to the internet, texting, or pulling up information they have stored, technology of that sort makes cheating a lot easier to do and harder to catch. As a matter of fact, many colleges even forbid the possession of cell phones in testing centers because of the risk of cheating. It can be very tempting to text someone for answers to exam questions and giving an unfair advantage to those not allowed to do so. This type of cheating ultimately hurts the student. After all, what are they really learning if they don't have to think for themselves?

Having a cell phone turned off during class hours keeps external and distracting influences out of the classroom, thereby facilitating more focus and a greater learning environment. One can always turn the cell phone on during lunch or between classes in order to retrieve messages from home or work if needed. In the event of a true emergency, the cell phone is available for use as well. Also now in days the new phones that are coming out come with apps to download games, that is even a bigger distraction because not only just texting or on the web now they're playing games. Almost everyone is guilty of texting up a friend or logging on Facebook when they get bored, but even when thumb dialing or typing a message on Facebook chat is kept silent, having a phone or laptop during class hurts the student even more than distracting a teacher or their peers. Students should take a teacher's class policies into consideration before bringing those items to class in the event the teacher has requested they are not brought in.

Using a cell phone in class is an entirely different scenario than just having one in class. Instead of actively participating and listening to discussions, students are tempted to text with their friends or even receive