The Way Mobile Phones Affect the Life of an Average American Student

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The Way Mobile Phones Affect the Life of an Average American Student
The advent of mobile phones created a buzz all over the world, and there was excitement among people of all ages. Communicate became incredibly convenient and efficient. The entire world was turned into a massive global village. Well, the Internet did help in blurring the geographical distances between countries, but mobile phones did help make the world a better place in so many ways. However, there are instances when mobile phones have helped to enhance activities and behaviors that increasingly demean humanity. Some of the issues that are attributed to mobile phones include sleep loss, accidents, increase in anxiety issues, cyberbullying, among others. These issues are universal, and people experience them daily. But, there are those that are specific to the average American student and these have led to debates over whether mobile phones should be banned in schools. Common ground is yet to be achieved, but there is overwhelming evidence confirming that indeed mobile phones are negatively impacting the lives of students in America and the world. In this article, focus will be on cyberbullying, learning or the academic life of students, impact on students’ social lives, and anxiety levels. Through these aspects, this article will demonstrate how mobile phones affect the life of an average American student.
First of all, mobile phones greatly impact the academic life of a student. Mobile phones are a great distraction for many students. Coupled with the fact that the Internet is readily available, it is incredibly easy for students to get distracted by what is happening around them and in the world. While referencing a study, Thompson (np) reveals that when someone gets distracted from what they were doing, it takes approximately 25 minutes to get back to a task. The study was referencing office employees, however, the same can apply to students especially during lectures or group discussions. Titsworth and Kuznekoff (2013) support the above finding through their study. Their study involved three study groups: high-distraction, low-distraction, and control. As per their results, students who were not using their mobile phones retained more information compared to those who actively engaged with their mobile phones. The distractions caused by mobile phones interfered with the students’ ability to retain information.
Aside from concentration and mobile phones being a great distraction, they also negatively impact the performance of students. In his article, Barnwell (2016) reveals that mobile phones continually affect the performance of students. He makes it clear that even though mobile phones can be used as learning tools, their adverse effects on learning and performance far outweighs their use or integration in education. Beland and Murphy (17) do support Barnwell, and their study indicates that “banning mobile phones improves outcomes for the low-achieving students (14.23% of a standard deviation) the most and has no significant impact on high-achievers.” So, for an average American student, a mobile phone could indeed be seen as a great tool. However, in the end, it robs the s...