The Negative Impact of Cellphone Use in School

As the addiction of cell phones among the current generation has been on the rise, many have argued that cell phones negatively impact our society Mariano Choliz and Jack Tessier conducted studies to determine exactly how cell phones have affected the lives of citizens Research conducted by Mariano Choliz at the University of Valencia in Valencia, Spain found that adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 commonly experience Mobile Phone Dependency; however, Jack Tessier’s study conducted at the State University of New York in Delhi found cell phones to be a viable learning option instead of textbooks, Tessier’s belief (that cell phone usage by the current generation positively impacts their learning environment) and Choliz’s traditional approach (stating that cell phones cause mobile phone addiction) have forced me to critically analyze how often I use my phone and in what circumstances.

In Tessier’s study, his objective is to prove how using cell phones instead of a textbook will affect student learningle proves this by conducting a study of 22 students in a 200 level college Ecology course.

In the students’ first semester, they were able to use their normal textbooks and continue class like normal Tessier allowed the students to bring notes from lectures or powerpoints to use on their quizzes. This semester acted as the constant that Tessier could use to compare data, During the student’s second semester, they did not have access to a textbook, but rather their cell phones. All lectures and powerpoints were modified so that they were accessible on cell phones, Students were able to research quiz questions with their phones.

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This gave students access to more information than just the textbooks could provide although students in the cell phone semester lacked organization throughout their notes, information during the quizzes was much more accessible since they had access to their phones.

The data collected from the cell phone semester showed that when students had access to their phones, their quiz scores increased, this was probably due to having more clear information at their fingertips instead of searching through notes for information. When reviewing the text, Tessier‘s idea was to replace textbook learning with cell phone learning, his goal with this change was to see if cell phones helped, or hurt the average college student the students in this study concluded that they enjoyed being able to use their phones because it “eliminated the policing of unauthorized use and demonstrated respect for the students, while giving them access to more information than a textbook.” Although I believe this is true to an extent, cell phone violations could actually increase. This would be due to students’ off-topic recreational activities their phone provides them access to.

Throughout Tessier’s scientific report, he presented both facts and opinions of the students in his class probably to an audience of college professors, his study stayed neutral throughout with his use of third person point of view, however; Tessier‘s study does raise some questions as to the validity of his data of only 22 students.  On the contrary, Choliz’s questionnaire was given to almost 2,500 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 to determine their mobile phone dependency. He designed a multiple-step questionnaire to evaluate the level of dependency students have on their mobile phone. Choliz first researched characteristics that make phones so appealing to the younger generation to eventually ask about in his questionnaire. Next, he defined indicators of mobile phone dependency such as: excessive use, problems with parents, interference with other activities, and even emotional alterations when the phone is not near.

With the results from this study, Choliz broke the data down even further to show differences according to sex and age. He found that adolescents in their most influential age of 12—14 showed different results than the other age groups. Overall, this study proved that students can begin experiencing mobile phone dependency around the ages of 15 or 16, The side effects often include: having problems with parents, difficulty in limiting their use, and experiencing emotional discomfort when their phone isn‘t near. Choliz hopes that the results of this study can be used to help develop prevention programs as well as treatment programs since the mobile phone is one of the most widely used technological tools of this generation. A major difference between Tessier’s study and Choliz’s is that Tessier‘s study was conducted in one classroom of 22 students while Choliz had around 2,500 participants, the lack of information that Tessier collected could skew his results to be more favorable for him. Since Mariano Choliz believes that teenagers experience mobile phone dependency, the research from his scientific report was presented in a way to show the audience of main adults, what constitutes mobile phone dependency.

Choliz’s use of Lhird person point of View was, however, consistent with Tessier‘s. The main similarity I found between the two studies was simply the correlation between test scores when a mobile phone is present. The results within Tessier’s study were consistent with the results of Choliz’s questionnaire in that adolescents are becoming more dependent on their phones. Choliz found through his studies that the mobile phone is the most widely used technological tool to adolescents His results helped prove the correlation between quiz scores increasing when mobile phones are present. However, a possible limitation that should be addressed is the geographical location. Since Choliz found that mobile phone dependency was sensitive in regards to age and gender, it could also be sensitive to geographical location and race.

Although these studies were conducted in different countries, I believe the data is still comparable to US students. After analyzing both choliz’s and Tessier’s studies, I have come to the conclusion that cell phones can both help and hurt adolescents. While helping students in a short-term manner by making information easier to find for quiz answers, this will eventually hurt students. This is because students will not find a need to study for the quizzes since they can find the correct answers online. This allows students to forgo taking notes and ignore PowerPoint lectures. In a way, it promotes flash memorization among college students.

The data in Choliz’s study was concurrent with this statement because he found that although student’s quiz scores went up, their test grades did not noticeably improve. Because of the lack of improvement in overall grades, cell phones should not be considered a valid alternative to standard textbook learning. Although some professors may think that allowing cell phone use in class will eliminate the taboo previously associated with them, they will be sadly mistaken Since cell phones will be allowed in classrooms, students may feel the need to interact with their phone simply because it is already in their hands. According to Choliz, criteria of mobile phone dependency include, “ Interference with other school or personal activities, and excessive use” Seeing that cell phones really are increasing in popularity, most of the population could begin experiencing mobile phone dependency on a regular basis Since cell phones have boomed, it’s rare to see teenagers in public without their cell phones.

Often, one can find teens on their cell phones at: movie theaters, dates, at restaurants, schools, and even while driving. When looking at cell phones in this light, they seem to only bring us down as a society since they are causing mobile phone dependency and the corresponding side effects. On the other hand, phones have numerous educational and informative apps and abilities that are useful to not only adolescents, but any generation, for example, phones have almost completely replaced the dashboard GPS with Google Maps, and the ability to call someone in the case of emergencies is irreplaceable. This is why cell phones in the current generation can be both a blessing and a curse.