Dear Auntie Siobhan: My Students Won't Put Away Their Phones

Dear Auntie Siobhan:

I am an adjunct professor at a small college.  Our college has a policy stating that all cell phones and other communication devices must be turned off in the classroom.  It is up to individual teachers to enforce this policy, but many do not.

I have a strict no-cell-phone policy, but exercising it is a constant exercise in frustration; it seems I spend half my class time telling students to put their phones away, as they continue to text, check messages, and show each other photos regardless of what I do.

Last semester a student's phone rang in the middle of a test, and he answered it.  Yes, answered it, and began a conversation, while the test was going on, in the classroom.  I took his paper away from him and gave him a zero.  He was outraged.  There were no more such incidents during tests, but during regular class periods, phone use continued unabated.

I have read and heard arguments that say that, instead of banning phones in classrooms, we should put them to use to engage students and further their learning.  I am a philosophy teacher, and I see no practical application for this approach in my classroom, nor do I have any inclination to pursue it.  My students read texts, discuss them, and consider philosophical problems; I do everything I can to make our activities stimulating, and I make use of technological aids when appropriate, but can't see how introducing more bells and whistles will bring anything more this process.  I can't consider their phones anything but a distraction.

Is there anything I can do to get them to put their damn phones away?  Or do I just need to relax?

Phonophobic

New York, New York, USA

Dear Phonophobic:

Cell phones baffle me.  I don't own one.  I recognize that they have practical uses, but their ubiquity in the classroom is one thing that almost drove me to quit teaching a few years ago.  I wanted them GONE, and pined for the days when the rare student who had one would have been embarrassed if it had rung in public.

My college has a cell phone policy similar to yours, and the enforcement of it is similarly uneven.  What's more, I'm one of the few teachers who refuses to allow laptops unless the student has a certified medical reason for needing one.  The laptops are rarely an issue - once they're put away, they're gone - but the cell phones are still a scourge.

I've also encountered the arguments you mention about how we should really all move into the 21st century and embrace all forms of communication technology in our schools.  I have no problem with a teacher who holds these views and applies them in his/her own classroom, but I feel there are many valid reasons not to apply them in mine.

Some argue that in contemporary society, our students need to learn how to multitask effectively.  I would argue just the opposite: that today's young people - and adults, for that matter, myself included - need to learn to STOP multitasking, and to focus on one task, with concentration, for an extended period of time.  My classroom may be one of the only places that students have the chance, and the obligation, to do that.  By forcing them to put their phones and laptops away, I am giving them the opportunity to stop the random, jittery stimulation and instant information that surrounds them at all times, and instead turn their attention to a deep and slow understanding of one specific text, idea or question.

This is not the only life skill they need, but it is a valuable one, and one that they have less and less access to.

The question is, how do we get them to do that?  How do we banish the phones?  Short answer: I don't think we really can, unless, as you explain, we make ourselves crazy.  The pull of the cell phone is far stronger than the pull to please the teacher or to learn anything, in most cases.

We can, however, offer some incentives.

I used to simply take phones away if they were left lying on desk tops, but it never seemed to make any difference, and every class, as I spotted the phones out in the open once again, my mood grew more and more sour.

What's more, in dealing with post-secondary students, an argument could be made that we really should show respect for their own judgment, and approach cell phone problems, not as a matter of laying down the law, but as a question of etiquette.  Pulling out a phone during a test is clearly a serious breach of policy; texting and snickering to oneself during a lecture, on the other hand, is really only rude, and a detriment to one's own learning.

So this past semester, I changed my tune.  I gave my students the following speech at the beginning of the term:

"College policy states that you need to turn your phone off and put it away, out of sight, and that's  what I'd like you to do.  However, here's how I approach this policy.  If your phone is out on your desk and it is silent - you're not touching it, it's not ringing or vibrating - I'm not going to give you a hard time about it.  I'll be irritated by it.  I won't LIKE you as much as all the other nice, polite students who put their phones away because I ask them to.  But I'm not going to make a big deal about it, as long as we're not doing a test and you're leaving the phone alone.  However, if I see you playing with your phone at any time, I'm going to ask you to put it away where you can't see it, and if I have to talk to you repeatedly about your phone, I'm going to ask you to leave the class."

This approach was surprisingly effective.  The phones didn't disappear, and some students still had to be reprimanded for texting under their desks instead of engaging with the class.  But I felt more relaxed about the whole issue, relaxed enough even to ignore the phone fiddling from time to time, and when I did have to speak to someone about it, I was able to do it lightly, even humorously; this usually elicited an apology, and the phone disappeared.

Bad cell phone etiquette may seem trivial, but I think it's symptomatic of a far more serious social ill, that of increasing self-absorption and lack of consideration for others.  Compulsion around cell phones may not be a clinical "addiction," but it can have some serious negative effects on one's ability to concentrate.  The classroom is one place where students can be asked to start grappling with these problems, but I think we also have to be realistic.  Cell phones are not going anywhere, and teenagers and young adults are not going to always use them responsibly - hell, full-grown, normally decent people often turn into total jerks the moment they take out a cell phone in public.

I think we can stand firm on our desire to minimize intrusions into our lessons, but we can also stop banging our heads against the wall.  After all, those of us who don't have a radioactive transmitter pressed to our ear all day may soon be the only ones with any heads at all.

*

Siobhan Curious' blog, Classroom as Microcosm, deals with her trials and triumphs as a CEGEP (college of general and professional education) teacher in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  If you have a question for Auntie Siobhan, visit her blog or write to her at siobhancurious@gmail.com.

Image by Maria Beliakova