Texting in the Academic Arena

714 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of cellphones in students's life

There are many ambivalent ideas on texting in the academic arena. While many conventional minded educators at Wilkes University feel that the use of cellular devices to text in class is wrong, students equally believe it is not a major concern and is not harmful to their academic studies. From an argumentative standpoint, many professors feel that it is extremely disrespectful, as well as distracting for their students to text during lectures. Students are not able to focus entirely on the material being presented; academic scores are not as high as they should be. “Students these days are so used to multitasking…they believe they are able to process information just as effectively when they are texting as when they are not.” (Rubinkam) However, teachers aren’t entirely eager to accept this justification from students. The average pupil in school will readily admit their texting habits. An anonymous survey of 269 students was performed at the University, and a startling nine out of ten students admitted to texting during class. “Every single person I know texts in class at least occasionally” (Rubinkam). As the class is paid for by the student, they feel it is their right to use cell phones as they deem fit. However, certain restrictions should be placed when there is a testing atmosphere. Although students may have a relaxed ethic on cell phone usage in class, professors see it as a means to possibly cheat during a test or exam. There is every possibility that a student can receive a message from an outside source relaying an answer or helpful tip for a question on a test. Effectively, harsher punishments are now inflicted on students caught using their cell phones. Professor Deborah Tindell has implem... ... middle of paper ... ...sford examined the work of first-year students, she didn't find a single example of texting speak in an academic paper” (Thompson). Lunsford is certain that students are able to separate their “text lingo” and formal writing, using them in the appropriate manner when required. Although there are many ideas on cell phone usage in the academic sector, a negative attitude is predominately accepted. However, these ideas are being challenged; new and innovative theories on the matter are becoming prevalent. Works Cited Thompson, Clive. "New Literacy." Wired Magazine. 08/24/2009: n. page. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. . Rubinkam, Michael. "During Boring Classes, Texting Is the New Doodling ." ABC News. 11/26/2010: n. page. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. .

Show More
Related

  • Nicholas Carr's How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    ” Carr uses this example to provide evidence of how smartphones pose as a distraction and interrupt students from their work. Carr also uses “nearly a hundred secondary schools.” This example is used so readers can grasp the large amount of schools that are involved in the issue. Lastly Carr uses “The subjects whose phones were in view posted the worst scores, while those who left their phones in a different room did the best.”

    Read More

  • Texting in Class to Enhance Learning

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    Legal issues have been questioned concerning the use of cell phones; do instructors or administrators have the rights to confiscate cell phones if used in class? Thomas Diamantes, of Wright State University, says, “In Tinker (Tinker v. Des Moines, 1969), the court established the "material and substantial disruption" test to protect freedom of speech and expression.” This court ruling, although not pertaining to cell phones, has helped to set the precedence for rulings concerning disruptive cell phone use and school rights.

    Read More

  • Informative Essay: The Unknown Impact Of Cell Phones

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cell phones are harming education and causing grades to be lower than what they could be. The other day I got out of class early in the business building, as I usually do. I was walking down the hallway, back to my dorm, as I walked across a classroom that I happened to look inside. As the professor was in the front of the classroom giving his lesson for that day, I noticed that about fifteen of twenty students had their phones out not paying one little ounce of attention to the professor. I do not know about you, but I can not read a status on Facebook and retain the information that my professor is giving me, but that is just me.

    Read More

  • How Does Texting Affect Writing By Michaela Cullington Summary

    452 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article, “Does Texting Affect Writing?”, the author Michaela Cullington conveys her speculation that texting does not correlate to how students write formal essays. At the beginning of the article Cullington introduces the term texting and the convenience texting brings. Later expressing her concern that the texting language “Textspeak” is actually affecting students writing; then contradicts these views by using primary and secondary sources (news articles, books, her own surveys and research). In addition, she uses an anecdote to tell of her own experience with texting and writing. Together with other evidences and research put together, she uncovers the debate between textspeak and formal writing. On the basis of her research, she concludes that the state of texting does not interfere with writing or writing abilities.

    Read More

  • Adolescents: Leave the Cell Phones At Home

    1672 Words  | 4 Pages

    Post inception of the cell phone has fueled a shift in the civility of adolescent social interaction. Gone are the days of seeing teenagers imaginatively playing alongside each other with the only restriction being his or her ability to effectively communicate. Virtual conversations, text messages and online social networks have replaced development of social skills through personal interactions. Some educators insist that cell phones provide a unique opportunity to capitalize on the learning experience in the modern classroom. Unfortunately, cell phones also provide an opportunity for adolescents to compromise their ethical values and moral standards. Adolescents are known to be source for cheating on exams, disrupting the classroom, and promoting inappropriate behaviors. Distracting characteristics of cell phone usage have shown a negative effect on the reading/writing ability of the adolescent and their subsequent readiness for higher learning. School administrators are challenged to balance the right of possession of the devices by adolescents and the monitoring /control of the school environment during a crisis. A school administrator named Patrick Gabriel drives a point home when he says “The constant use of cell phones, perhaps symbolic of life made virtual by all technology, seems to compound the problem. It has a powerful pull on so many. From my office window, I see students leaving school early or arriving late texting and calling with practically every step they take. The need to stay connected at every moment trumps all other behavior”(38) . Educators, parents and students must not ignore the temptation to let the addictive behavior associated with cell phones to dictate the classrooms learning environment. The value...

    Read More

  • We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    Text messaging has become a norm in our generation, as technology rapidly advances and gives way to more efficient forms of communication in a fast-paced world; and many are skeptical about the influence this new form of interaction is having on our society, especially with our younger generation. David Crystal, a professor at the University of Wales, writes “2b or Not 2b?” in support of text messaging. He insists, despite those who underestimate or negate the beneficial influence text messaging has on language proficiency, that “there is increasing evidence that [texting] helps rather than hinders literacy” and that the fairly recent form of communication has actually been around for a while and “is merely the latest manifestation of the human ability to be linguistically creative and to adopt language to suit the demands of diverse settings. In contrast, Jeffery Kluger argues in “We Never Talk Anymore: The Problem with Text Messaging” that text messaging is rapidly becoming a substitute for more genuine forms of communication and is resulting in difficulty among young peoples of our generation to hold a face-to-face conversation, engage in significant nonverbal expression, and ultimately build effective relationships with family, friends and co-workers. Both writers’ present valid arguments, however, my personal experience with text messaging has led me to agree more with Crystal’s view on the matter. Text messaging is indeed having a positive effect on society by making frequent texters primarily aware of the need to be understood, as well as offering betterment of spelling and writing through practice, and reinventing and expanding on a bygone dimension of our language through the use of rebuses and abbreviations.

    Read More

  • Cellphones In School Essay

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, cell phones are problematic in classrooms because they become distractions to both the students using the phone and to those that are trying to learn. In either case, they will both miss out on the opportunity to learn. According to M. Beth Humble-Thaden, “Cell phones ringing during a class time present unwanted distractions and, for some students, sending or receiving text messages can lead to cheating” (10). The usage of cell phones will also cause students to go off task and not give their school assignment the attention that it deserves,

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Texting

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    Step onto any college campus and take a look around.  You will find clumps of students standing around in circles, phones in hand, typing away.  What is it they are doing? Texting. Ever since the first text message was sent in 1993, the use of text messaging as a means of communication has spread like wild fire, especially amongst the adolescent generation. And with this new form of communication a new language has appeared; text-speak, the shortening of common words into abbreviations and acronyms (Drouin 49).  While texting and the text-speak language seem to have been welcomed by many, what affect is this new technology having on the way we communicate? Is it possible that texting is negatively affecting our ability to use formal written communication, or is this idea just a myth perpetuated by negative media attention? And what changes has texting brought to the way we communicate person-to person? Are these changes positive, negative, or perhaps a mixture of both?

    Read More

  • Texting and Cell Phone

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    The question of young people, cell phone use and texting causing young people to be less able to concentrate and focus has always been a difficult one to answer. Technology gives teenagers so much but includes many drawbacks. Cell phone use and texting has it’s advantages such as teachers embracing tech,uses for educational purposes, and easy to use;however,some drawbacks are as socializing,time away from homework,and bad communication skills. The first advantage would be teachers embracing tech in the classroom. Teachers embrace tech as a teaching tool in a way the students will understand.

    Read More

  • Cell Phones Should Not be Banned From School

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today’s cell phone is the front line technology at our fingertips. Keeping this in mind the use of cell phones have become an affair when it comes to allowing teens to use them in educational environments, such as schools. One part of society supports the use of cell phones while the other part of society disapproves the use of cell phones. I personally believe that cell phones should not only be allowed in school, but cell phones should be mandatory just like a textbook. Cell phones do not only allow students to stay united with friends and family, but cell phones are also a magnificent learning system, and they boost the liable use of technology.

    Read More

  • Cell Phone Use in Schools Should Not be Banned

    1410 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, this essay has tried to argue that cell phones are valuable tools in schools. Many of us see cell phone pessimistically but really haven’t looked at them optimistically. We all know that "with every good, comes a bad, and with responsibilities, come consequences". By all means allowing cell phones in schools is a great idea, and students should start to learn the positive features of that new device. Overall, this essay has attempted to show that allowing cell phones in schools is not a bad idea.

    Read More

  • TED Talk: Texting Is Killing Language

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Texting is killing language,” Ted starts off the video by saying that “The idea is that texting spells the decline and fall of any kind of serious literacy, or at least writing ability, among young people in the United States and now the whole world today (Ted, 2013). Throughout the film discussion, what stuck out to me the most was how drastic language has changed via technology.

    Read More

  • Cell Phones Should Be Banned from Classrooms

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    One reason that cell phones should be banned from classrooms is because students who use them fall into a daze of distracted learning. Classes are taught by teachers, whose goal is to give the student an educational experience, learning things they will need to apply to their later life. However, students on their cellphones are distracted from their learning and never use the lessons taught. Over 2,000 cellphone disturbances were reported in New York City in the past school year (Backstory). This means that over 2,000 people had issues with cellphones interrupting classroom discussi...

    Read More

  • Mobile Phones Should be Banned in School

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first reason to support that mobile phones should be banned in schools is that devices can be used to cheating for instance, text friends about answers during a test, take picture of test questions with mobile phones to send to friends, search the internet to answers during a test, and store information on mobile phones to look at during a test. It is suggested by Benenson Strategy Group (2008) indicated that 65 per c...

    Read More

  • Use of Mobile Phones By Students

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mobile phones are undeniable today. Almost everybody has a mobile phone. Formerly, it only functioned as a portable mean of communication. The function of a mobile phone has developed into entertainment. Furthermore, mobile phone has also come into the schools. However, it has both positive and negative effect on students. This essay argues that mobile phones will bring more negative than positive effect for students. Of course, students use it as a mean of communication and sometimes for an emergency call if they need it. Yet, they would use their mobile phones for both bullying and cheating. Also, mobile phones will make students lost concentration during their study.

    Read More

More about Texting in the Academic Arena

Open Document