You settle into your seat and arrange your textbook and notebooks.
Pen at the ready. The Professor aligns their own notecards and fires up the projector; everyone is preparing for the upcoming lecture.
Unbeknownst to you, the professor spent the better part of two hours the night before preparing their notes.
They are hoping to deliver the information in the most efficient and compelling way possible for their students.
Then you look around and notice: not everyone is as interested as you in the lesson. You count four people with their phones out, texting away as the professor begins to speak.
Sound familiar? If your experiences are anything like mine, then you know exactly what I mean.
I can’t quote an exact number, but based on the average number of peers I see using their phones during class, I would put it somewhere between 20 to 40 percent.
With the avid texters, the ones that can’t seem to put it away through the entire class, ranking in at about 15 percent of those.
This may come off as the rantings of an opinionated amateur reporter, or of a goody-goody that just wants to look good to the professors and staff, but it doesn’t change the fact: Using your phone regularly during a class is not only rude to your fellow students, it’s disrespectful to the professors who are responsible for teaching this material to we, the students.
Yes, there are times when it’s ok to check your phone, and I am in no way condemning all cell phone use in class, but there are appropriate times to do so.
Everyone who has taken a lecture class knows when it’s acceptable to bust out your phone and start making plans for Friday night, and when it’s not—hint to freshman, it’s not when the professor starts talking.
I for one value the money I’ve paid to take these classes, just as everyone else has paid as well. So is it too much for me to expect other people to want to pay attention to what is being said in class as well?
Doesn’t the teacher deserve the respect of your attention?
We aren’t in high school anymore; we are all responsible for ourselves, so don’t be surprised if an irritated peer says something to you the next time you are rudely using your phone during class.
I will more than likely get side-ways glances from people in the halls for speaking up on the side of classroom edict here, but I find it distracting.
Besides emergencies, let’s keep the texting during class to a minimum.
Your professors and fellow students will thank you for it.
Feel free to email me your opinions on the topic of texting in class, also any other topic you think I should cover at
rhuffaker@dmacc.edu
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