Advantages and Disadvantages of Cell Phones in Class

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Cell Phones in Class? Name Institution What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Cell Phones in Class? The debate involving the use of cell phones in class has been ongoing for some time now. On one hand, some people believe that students should be allowed to have their device and even use them while in school and class. However, others believe that cell phones should be banned from school and that students must learn how to stay away from their phones. In the spirit of continuing the debate and shedding more light on the matter, two authors, Tovia Smith and Sam Evans-Brown wrote articles highlighting some points which are often used to spearhead this debate. In his article titled Some Schools Actually, Want Students to Play with their Smartphones in Class, Sam talks about how some schools seem to be okay with students having their devices in school. He mentions that the devices are used to develop presentations, to track homework, as planners, pocket reference libraries, and finally, as agenda books. Tovia Smith, on the other hand, focuses more on the advantages of keeping phones away from students. In her article titled A School’s Way to Fight Phones in Class, she mentions that students are less distracted during lessons, are more engaged, and seem to develop socially as well. The truth is, the use of cell phones in school does indeed have its advantages. However, while they do have some proven and genuine advantages, the use of cell phones in class has some integrally grave disadvantages and hence my stance that cell phones should not be allowed in class. First of all, cell phones are a source of distraction in class. In her article, Smith notes that students do get distracted easily which means that teachers are left to repeat certain statements or ask questions several times. “Teachers know exactly what’s going on when students look up with those zombie stares and constantly ask: “Can you say that again?”” (Smith, 2018). As one teacher laments, it is indeed quite obvious that students are never listening to their teachers. Whenever they are looking down, they seem to be making plans for the weekend or doing things which keep them away from the events in class. I remember there is a day that some of my friends planned for the entire weekend while the teacher was in class. I came to know about the plans later but it was clear that they were not in class or even listenin...