A recent study from Kent State University found that cell phones have a significant negative impact on the grade point average of college students.
“I definitely think that it distracts me from my homework, because if I’m in the middle of an assignment and my phone goes off, I immediately go to that, and start paying attention to that,” said Arin Meissner, junior early childhood education major.
Meissner was not the only student who reported the pings and dings from notifications as a distraction.
“I’ll try to be doing my homework and then I’ll hear it vibrate or something so I’ll be like, ‘oh well I have to check my message,’” said Leah Body, sophomore business administration major.
Body added that any device with access to the internet has the potential to be just as distracting as a smartphone. Without her smartphone Body said, “I would find a way to go on other things, other social media, it would be like my laptop is too distracting because I can go on Facebook.”
But not all students agree with the results of the study. Collin Allred, senior history major, and Devin Larson, senior psychology major, said they didn’t feel their smartphones distracted them from school work.
“When I’m really trying to focus on something my phone is off to the side and I don’t really look at it,” said Larson.
“My phone hasn’t distracted me that much, usually I don’t have my phone near me,” Allred said.
Psychologist Jean M. Twenge has examined the effect of the smartphone on a younger generation referred to as iGen. That research shows that, in comparison with older generations, iGen is having less sex and drinking less alcohol than previous generations. Twenge’s other studies show that the generation is more depressed, lonelier, more isolated and getting less sleep.
As of April 1, 2015, 65 percent of American adults owned a smartphone of some kind. These percentages were even higher among younger Americans.
Deb Grosbier is a non-traditional student minoring in news media and technologies. Grosbier has watched her children grow up and slowly transition into the world of smartphones.
“I definitely see that the smartphones have taken away from our conversations,” said Grosbier.
“They seem so distracted, they can’t wait to get back to that phone, verses when they were younger we were really close, we did things, even cooking dinner we did together and now we don’t, it’s just so different,” said Grosbier.
Grosbier admitted that she also gets distracted from school work. She said without a smartphone, “I think I’d be a better student, I lose study time because of it, I’ll bet I lose an hour a day.”
Olivia De Valk
News Editor
odeva199@uwsp.edu