Blog7 : which in hands longer in class?-- pens Vs phones

   iPad, iPhone or iTouch and many other similar electrical devices have ‘won millions of people’s heart’, in particular the youths. People play with these items all the time, waiting for the bus, standing in the train or eating their meals. As for students, they may even play in the class, which may bring about numerous adverse effects on them and people involved, especially at the oral presentation, when teachers lecture and in panel discussion.

To begin with, this negative impact can be seen at presentation. Students playing with their items normally do not focus on the speakers; therefore they have little idea what the speaker has said. When the teacher asks students to give some suggestions, they often spend a lot of time thinking, making the speaker embarrassed while waiting in silence and most times cannot offer highly constructive ones to help the speaker. Besides, failing to pay attention to speakers’ presentation, they may lose a chance to broaden their horizons and learn new knowledge, such as the rules of chess and the stories behind porkers. All in all, rather than lower head down gazing at screens, students may as well look at the speaker and listen carefully, as is supposed to be mutually beneficial.

In addition, certain harm may be done to students if they are distracted from the lecturers to their electric items. In class, most times they bend their head down, one eye on the books, the other on the screens, striking to find a balance between these two points. On account of little concentration on the lecturer, they usually miss important points of knowledge and tend to make mistakes which lecturers have specially stressed in the class. From the eyes of lecturers, they are initially very enthusiastic and passionate, aiming to deliver an extraordinary lesson. Nevertheless, while teaching, teachers gradually find almost all students bending their head down instead of looking forward. Lacking students’ interaction and cooperation, they feel a little disappointed and then upset (perhaps they may not display outside), which will terribly affect how well they teach. Consequently, they will not teach as well as when students behave otherwise.

At last, students frequently fix their eyes on dears and are absent from the discussion, which will also cause negative influence. Due to less participation, the discussion normally makes students bored and thus discourages other members to talk more. Also, students who play with phones do not pay attention to others’ remarks which may be of great help to them one day, thus losing great wealth in knowledge. In a nutshell, playing with phones or tablets in discussion not just does harm to the discussion, but also has a negative effect on students themselves who play.

To summarize, playing with smartphones or other similar products at presentation, during lecturing or discussion, will lead to negative effects to students as well as others. If we put our smartphones away in class and concentrate, I believe the class will be more interesting and fruitful and all students as well as teachers will benefit significantly.

(I am also a phone player, so I want to write this blog to remind me of this act’s bad influence and try to play with phones after I have finished my part of work J )