It Sure Looks Like Phones Are Making Students
Dumber
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-sure-looks-like-phones-are-making-students-dumber/ar-AA1lIX7i
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/cell-phones-student-test-scores-dropping/676889/
Derek Thompson:
The way I see it, for the past decade, the internet-connected world has been running a global experiment on our minds—and, in particular, on the minds of young people. Teens are easily distracted and exquisitely sensitive to peer judgment. Results from a decade of observational research have now repeatedly shown a negative relationship between device use and life satisfaction, happiness, school attention, information retention, in-class note-taking, task-switching, and student achievement. These cognitive and emotional costs are highest for those with the most “device dependence.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-sure-looks-like-phones-are-making-students-dumber/ar-AA1lIX7i
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/cell-phones-student-test-scores-dropping/676889/
Derek Thompson:
The way I see it, for the past decade, the internet-connected world has been running a global experiment on our minds—and, in particular, on the minds of young people. Teens are easily distracted and exquisitely sensitive to peer judgment. Results from a decade of observational research have now repeatedly shown a negative relationship between device use and life satisfaction, happiness, school attention, information retention, in-class note-taking, task-switching, and student achievement. These cognitive and emotional costs are highest for those with the most “device dependence.”
Ban smartphones from schools, says major UN report
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/25/smartphones-school-classroom-ban-united-nations-unesco/
Report warns excessive mobile phone use is associated with poor educational performance and emotional instability
Related: https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/technology
Report warns excessive mobile phone use is associated with poor educational performance and emotional instability
Related: https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/technology
Arnold L. Glass & Mengxue Kang (2018), Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance, Educational Psychology.
DOI: 10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046
ABSTRACT
The intrusion of internet-enabled electronic devices (laptop, tablet, and cell phone) has transformed the modern college lecture into a divided attention task. This study measured the effect of using an electronic device for a non-academic purpose during class on subsequent exam performance. In a two-section college course, electronic devices were permitted in half the lectures, so the effect of the devices was assessed in a within-student, within- item counterbalanced experimental design. Dividing attention between an electronic device and the classroom lecture did not reduce comprehension of the lecture, as measured by within-class quiz questions. Instead, divided attention reduced long-term retention of the classroom lecture, which impaired subsequent unit exam and final exam performance. Students self-reported whether they had used an electronic device in each class. Exam performance was significantly worse than the no-device control condition both for students who did and did not use electronic devices during that class.
The harmful effects of laptop usage in classrooms:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/business/laptops-not-during-lecture-or-meeting.html
“At the United States Military Academy, a team of professors studied laptop use in an introductory economics class. The course was taught in small sections, which the researchers randomly assigned to one of three conditions: electronics allowed, electronics banned and tablets allowed but only if laid flat on desks, where professors could monitor their use. By the end of the semester, students in the classrooms with laptops or tablets had performed substantially worse than those in the sections where electronics were banned.”
DOI: 10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046
ABSTRACT
The intrusion of internet-enabled electronic devices (laptop, tablet, and cell phone) has transformed the modern college lecture into a divided attention task. This study measured the effect of using an electronic device for a non-academic purpose during class on subsequent exam performance. In a two-section college course, electronic devices were permitted in half the lectures, so the effect of the devices was assessed in a within-student, within- item counterbalanced experimental design. Dividing attention between an electronic device and the classroom lecture did not reduce comprehension of the lecture, as measured by within-class quiz questions. Instead, divided attention reduced long-term retention of the classroom lecture, which impaired subsequent unit exam and final exam performance. Students self-reported whether they had used an electronic device in each class. Exam performance was significantly worse than the no-device control condition both for students who did and did not use electronic devices during that class.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/business/laptops-not-during-lecture-or-meeting.html
“At the United States Military Academy, a team of professors studied laptop use in an introductory economics class. The course was taught in small sections, which the researchers randomly assigned to one of three conditions: electronics allowed, electronics banned and tablets allowed but only if laid flat on desks, where professors could monitor their use. By the end of the semester, students in the classrooms with laptops or tablets had performed substantially worse than those in the sections where electronics were banned.”
Taking notes by hand is shown to be superior to laptop use in classroom settings:
http://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5776804/note-taking-by-hand-versus-laptop
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/