A teacher has shared an “eye opening” post to show just how disruptive mobile phones in the classrooms are.
The high school teacher, from the US, asked her students to turn their phones on loud for one class just to see how many notifications they get.
Every time they received a notification, the students went up and put a tally mark under a category, which included Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X (formally Twitter), emails, text messages, phone calls and other.
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Alarmingly, the class received more than 1100 notifications in a single period.
In an effort to ban phones in all schools, the teacher explained how “every one of these tally marks is an interruption in a student’s education”.
“Mobile phones can be toxic to a learning environment.”
The viral post has been doing the rounds on social media in recent years — with many divided over the issue.
“Wow, how sad,” one said.
“This is why there are no phones allowed at my daughter’s school. They go in the locker and can’t have them outside until the end of the day, outside the school grounds,” added another.
“Wow that must have been distracting for all,” added a third.
However, not everyone agreed, with many suggesting phones were not the problem.
“I disagree, just because the phone goes off, doesn’t mean they’ll look at it,” said one.
“Incorrect if the phones had been on silent, they would not disrupt the child and their learning,” added another.
“Well, if we could be consistent in teaching them self-control and to put them on silent. It will be there if there is an emergency. Teach self-control,” said a third.
In Australia, mobile phones are currently banned in all state schools, as well as many Catholic and independent schools around the country.
Last year, the NSW Government banned the use of phones in public schools during the day – including at recess and lunch.
Phones either need to be in lockers, kept in school bags or at the front office, out of sight, until the end of the day.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning, Prue Car, said the ban was to ensure NSW students are not distracted by phones at school.
“This ban creates a level playing field across all NSW public schools, and means students can focus on what’s most important – learning in the classroom,” she said.
“It will help to 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 development outcomes.”
Independent journal The Conversation conducted a study on whether mobile phone bans in school were effective.
The research found four studies identified there was “a slight improvement in academic achievement when phones were banned in schools.”
However, two of the studies found the improvement “only applied to disadvantaged or low-achieving students.”
Overall, the journal concluded that the evidence for banning mobile phones in school was “weak and inconclusive”.
