Preview

The Laptop Ate My Attention Span

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1207 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Laptop Ate My Attention Span
Marler 1
Austin Marler
Ayafor
En102
9/4/13
“The Laptop Ate My Attention Span” Did you know laptops are a causing issues in college classes? Some professors and students see them as a distraction to the class. Some students will look at the laptop screen while the student next to them is playing a game. Professors think this intrudes on the students learning. Other professors and students see them as a great note taking tool. The professors and students do not think they are a big distraction and they think the students should learn to balance work and play on the computer. First of all, this article is about how laptops in classrooms are very distracting to everyone in the class. For example, in the article it says that a student was reading his email during a finance lecture, and downloaded an attachment from the email. The attachment automatically turned on the student’s volume. Then the attachment proceeded to play a message saying “Oh my God, I’m watching porn!” The article also talks about the battle going on between students and professors. The professors try to get the students to stop using the internet during lectures. The professors have a switch to turn off the internet, and the students would keep turning it on behind the professors back. The author does not like the use of laptops in class. She focuses on making points that they are just a distraction. She also uses sarcasm to prove that there are no good things that come out of using a laptop in class. This emphasizes how much she dislikes the use of laptops in class. To begin with, the article opens with a question about the issue with laptops on school campuses. This goes on to discuss if laptops should or shouldn’t be allowed in class. The author then goes on to give reasons why laptops should not be allowed in class. She also gives multiple examples. It transitions into precautions schools took with the issue of laptops being allowed in class. Eventually it transitions to stating that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    References: Article Meyer, L. (n.d.). 5 Reasons Schools Still Need Desktop Computers. Despite the Growth of Mobile Learning, Desktops Still Play Important Roles in the 21st Century Classroom, 41(4). Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-375369450/5-reasons-schools-still-need-desktop-computers-despite. Journal Title, Pages From - To.…

    • 1258 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Samuel G. Freedman tells a short story in his essay about Professor Ali Nazemi and the bold show he put on for his students. Nazemi hires an actor to pretend to be one of his students. In the middle of class the actor’s cell phone rang and Professor Nazemi asked to see his phone, the actor handed him the phone, then Professor Nazemi set it in his suit case, grabbed a hammer, and smashed the phone. By doing this he made a clear point to the rest of the class that he would not tolerate cellular distractions in his class room. Freedman explains that he considers Professor Nazemi a hero for showing how serious he takes education, as should we all. Academia is fighting a losing war against technology, whether it may be a short cut to quickly retrieve information, or a simple distraction keeping student’s attention from the education they should be getting.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As development of technologies grows, the most influenced by technologies, the students will rely on them increasingly. During class, not only technologies distract the students but also professors. Refraining the use of laptop in the class will lead progress and upper quality of education. Rebecca Schuman,…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electronics are taking over the new generation. Parents believe that if students have week where they don’t use any electronics they would be more focused. Students shouldn’t have electronics for a week because it makes them distracted from their work and they are not thinking to their full potential. Students are constantly using online sources to figure out their problems, but without the internet they will have a chance to have deeper thinking. With no internet students will recognize how much more focused they will be.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In one experiment conducted by Cornell University, they had a class full of students. Half of the class was allowed to use their laptops during the class, the…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With technology becoming more prevalent in this day and age, it has become an increasing trend to see students using their laptops in class. While there are professors who ban the use of laptops in their class, believing that it is a form of distraction to the students, others support the use of laptops in class. This includes Rebecca Schuman, a journalist and education columnist for Slate. Her article “In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom ” was published on 15 June 2014, on Slate’s online portal. Schuman aims to persuade the readers that laptops should be allowed in classrooms as she feels that it is essential.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The article, The Cost of Texting in the Classroom, demonstrates the cognitive capability of the human mind, the distractions from electronic devices in the classroom, and the methods that instructors can take to find a balance between learning and a student’s social life. The human mind is a great thing. People, students especially, think that multitasking comes naturally to them, but they don’t seem to recognize the damage they are causing to their learnings. The slightest glance at an electronic device can shift their mind to another rear and steer them to a different track. Not only does an electronic device effect the beholder, it also distracts the ones around them. Instructors are now making different efforts in order to maintain this…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since money is one of the main driving forces in everyone’s lives, this use of persuasive language effectively influences parents to approve of the principals decision solely through their desire to be financially secure. Jones eliminates any reason for parents to oppose his views through appeals to their sense of fear and their morals and values, by referring to this issue as a “worrying phenomenon” and claiming that the constant use of computers has “a detrimental effect on children’s learning abilities… and could have other damaging effects on the brain”. The negative connotations in words like ‘detrimental’ and ‘worrying’ add to his alarming tone in order to arouse fear and anxiety in parents by suggesting that if they push for laptops to be made available in classrooms, they would be doing a great deal of harm to their own children. This compels the parents of students at Hightower College to share in the principal’s point of view that the school should not be “prepared to compromise the learning abilities of students in support of a…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    After reading those articles, through my experiences in college, I was able to vividly retrospect my behaviors and results from using or not using technology. When I first joined college, my friends and I had new laptops carrying around to school taking note with them. Due to ban laptop policy in high school, I was so pleased that I got to look at my computer screen and write down what professor said. Sometimes, I stray out from the lecture and spent time doing other unnecessary activity, but I did not think that it was because of my laptop. Even if I don’t have my laptop around me, sometimes I zone out thinking about something else. I believe that regardless of using technology devices, it is my own or students’ responsibility to manage and pay attention in any…

    • 1295 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Laptops have major amounts of creativity, but it’s used in the wrong way. The way it’s used is distraction.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Laptop computers in the classroom are used solely for note taking or writing, with the permission…

    • 1782 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The entire article’s focus was on students in higher education, Gilroy did not express that this issue is for all ages everywhere and has become an increasingly big problem over time. Gilroy makes it clear that she sees no benefit to the wildly popular devices in a learning environment. While an individual reading this could very well share Gilroy’s views or strongly oppose her side, Gilroy was able to expresses her concerns and others concerns in a way that one reading can understand and relate. The writer’s purpose is understood through multiple accounts and is concluded with a solution,…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the laptop is a good tool for learning, it can also distract other students in the classroom. Based on the presentation, students who use laptop would likely spend time multitasking and distracts other students from learning. It also states that people who multitasking can affect other students to be distracted and unfocused on the study or taking notes. Students who use laptop would likely type the same thing the teacher says and would likely take more note. In contrary, students who take notes by hand would likely use their own words and process the note they were taking. Thus, students who use laptop do not process their note deeply as hand note takers. As results, they would likely do poorly on a quiz or a test.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Microwaves, MacBooks, and MP3 players all have one thing in common: they are all technology. Technology is used in schools across the nation, such as Empire High School which has replaced all textbooks with iBooks to make students excited about learning (Source A). But is technology always good? The Internet, a byproduct of technology, contains loads of information ranging from when Benjamin Franklin was born to how to conceal a dead body. “There is no quality control on the Internet.” (Source E) The lack of quality control means that students could be exposed to inappropriate material, on accident. Technology can both improve and hinder life, so when schools decide to implement new technological tools for learning, they must consider how it effects traditional learning, and how useful the technology truly is.…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Laptop computers are really useful for students because one can just pick the computer up go. Students don’t have to worry about finding a computer at school because it’s portable. Although laptops are portable, one still has to worry about it being lost or stolen. One must also have to concern there self about dropping their computer. Now with a desktop computer one is restricted to one spot till they are finished with their task. With desktop computers one has to worry about where to place the computer when it gets home. Then a computer desk is needed before the computer is brought home.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays