{"id":11114,"date":"2012-08-02T15:05:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T19:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=11114"},"modified":"2012-08-04T11:18:07","modified_gmt":"2012-08-04T15:18:07","slug":"how-schools-are-coping-with-a-communications-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/08\/02\/how-schools-are-coping-with-a-communications-obsession\/","title":{"rendered":"How Schools Are Coping With A Communications Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
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Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Katerina Sanchez, 14, uses her phone when her classmates move from their desks to work on the classroom computers. <\/p><\/div>\n

Many schools prohibit students from using cell phones during school hours.<\/p>\n

But students can\u2019t always resist the urge.<\/p>\n

Middle school student Teresa Fernandez says she leaves class and goes to the bathroom when she wants to text.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone does that because every time I go in there people are playing [games] and texting,\u201d Fernandez says.<\/p>\n

Instead of fighting students, adults should give in, says Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University, Doninguez Hills.<\/p>\n

Rosen is author of \u201ciDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggests a radical idea: teachers should let students use their phones for one minute \u2013 every 15 minutes.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a nicotine patch for people trying to quit smoking.<\/p>\n

Rosen says constantly thinking about their phones is more distracting to their learning than letting students have a minute or two to do it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

How Often do Students Think About their Phones?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>A 2011 study by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Internet and American Life Project teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 send and receive an average of 167 text messages a day.<\/p>\n

The median is 60 texts per day.<\/p>\n

The Pew study also finds about half of teens visit social networking sites several times a week or more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

Student Ciji Wright, 13, says she gets distracted during class by thinking about checking her social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think about my Facebook 24\/7,\u201d says 13-year-old Ciji Wright.<\/p>\n

The Brownsville Middle School student says a classroom lesson doesn\u2019t always distract her from thinking about her social world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might be in English class and I’ll get bored and I’m like, ‘I wonder what’s happening on Facebook? I wonder who is about to follow me on Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students think about their social communication so much that 7th grader Mikayla Alsopp says her mind starts to play tricks on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say your phone is on vibrate,\u201d she says. \u201cYou just start hearing things. You\u2019ll hear the vibrate.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

A Different Brain than Teachers Taught 10 Years Ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today’s teen brain is literally a different brain than teachers taught 10 years ago, Rosen says.<\/p>\n

And it may be time for schools to adapt.<\/p>\n

He thinks banning cell phones in class is the wrong approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the point of view of what’s going on in those kids’ brains, it’s a terrible idea,\u201d Rosen says. \u201cAbsolutely terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says just knowing that they can check their phones in class will calm their brains enough to keep them focused on a lesson until the next cell phone break.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a stimulus to your brain that says, \u2018You don\u2019t have to think about me, what you\u2019re missing out on. All you have to do is listen and pay attention for 15 minutes and you\u2019ll get to check in.\u201d<\/p>\n

His experiments show teens and young adults start losing focus after 10 or 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not proven whether these one minute breaks have a direct affect on student learning, but Rosen says any little break resets the brain’s ability to focus. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A Generation Apart<\/strong><\/p>\n

The people making school rules don’t always get it. Most are Generation X or Baby Boomers. They didn’t grow up with the same technology.<\/p>\n

Take Shawn Cerra. He\u2019s been principal at JP Taravela High School in Coral Springs for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t necessarily relate because none of this stuff was really around when I was in high school,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hope that kids can dedicate six hours of total time to their education.\u201d<\/p>\n

High school students Marlene Nazario and Katerina Sanchez say it would be “pretty cool” if teachers let them text in class.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sarah Gonzalez \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p>

StateImpact Floirda asked students to place their phone on the desk if it was within reach. Each student in the classroom pulled their cell phones out of their pockets, and couldn't resist the urge to check for any missed messages.<\/p><\/div>\n

But other students say it would only make their addiction worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like giving someone a little bit of food when they\u2019re really hungry,\u201d says student Ciji Wright.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be like when am I going to get my next meal?\u201d<\/p>\n

Principal Cerra is \u201ctotally against\u201d the idea of one minute cell phone breaks.<\/p>\n

He says it would be difficult to get students back on task every 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they see something that\u2019s upsetting or disturbing or something of interest, it would be hard pressed for them to put the phone down and listen to World War II,\u201d he says<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my teachers and students to follow the rules that the school board has set,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In Miami-Dade County, there is a similar belief that cell phones should not be used in the classroom for things such as texting friends and checking social networking sites.<\/p>\n

But teacher Mariolga Locklin agrees it may be time to rethink the policy.<\/p>\n

Locklin teaches 12th grade English at Miami Palmetto High School. She says adults are also distracted by their phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody says something, I will Google it to double-check what they say while the other person is talking,\u201d Locklin says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I understand completely when students want to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She lets her students use their phones.<\/p>\n

She admits that most of the time her students are not Googling something for class, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly Facebook,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t bother her.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause usually it doesn\u2019t interrupt the lesson. If it’s one kid out of 30 checking one thing, it\u2019s not that big a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the challenge for teachers is to keep students interested in the lesson, so they forget about their cell phones \u2013 even just for a little while.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re not interested in the class they\u2019ll be passing notes to each other, they\u2019ll be doing homework from another class, so it\u2019s not just the phone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

“If I\u2019m keeping them interested, I don\u2019t have much of a problem with the phones.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many schools prohibit students from using cell phones during school hours. But students can\u2019t always resist the urge. Middle school student Teresa Fernandez says she leaves class and goes to the bathroom when she wants to text. \u201cI think everyone does that because every time I go in there people are playing [games] and texting,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":11116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1161,1050],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}