Central High teachers and students are being impacted by the usage of phones during class every day, according to a survey conducted by The Register.
Central students filled out a survey to describe the use of their phones. The majority, 46 out of 55 respondents, said that they are on their phones during more than one class per day. Additionally, the majority (34 out of 55 students) have an average screen time of more than four hours per day. The results of the survey showed that the main use of phones in class is for music and messaging.
Freshman Jane Parker said she is most influenced by the desire to pick up her phone to check for notifications.
“If there’s a lot of free time, I find my phone to be a distraction, but if we’re in a class where the teacher keeps us busy then I don’t,” Parker said.
According to the survey, students have varying opinions on how their phones affect their personal learning experiences. Some say it helps them get a better understanding if they aren’t certain about what was said in class, while others say it gets in the way of focus and time that could be spent doing homework.
“I don’t think that it affects me a lot, I am pretty good at getting back on track, but I will say there is sometimes a pull to go on my phone during work time rather than doing my homework,” junior Katherine Besancon said.
One thing the majority seemed to agree on was that music is a major help when it comes to focusing in the classroom.
“The music makes it less overwhelming,” freshman Jessica Ammon said.
A study published in June 2024 from Pew Research Center showed that 72% of US high school teachers deem phone usage as a big issue in class.
French teacher Elizabeth Steinauer teaches all grades at Central. She says that phones take away focus and from a group learning experience, and it is not a good feeling as a teacher when phones are getting more attention than what they are teaching.
“What am I doing here, what are we doing here, what does anybody want from me?” Steinauer said.
English teacher Marcella Mahoney said phones take away the focus on academics when students use them for communication. Fights and drug sales can be set up through messaging, which often happens during class.
“I hate to think that those things happen, but I know that they do,” Mahoney said.
A survey from Pew Research Center in 2018 found that 49% of teens said spending too much time using their phones for off task purposes is distracting. This can be linked to problems focusing in class, especially when classes are a lengthy hour and a half.
“Usually, I’m checking my phone for messages, which though not great isn’t usually a big issue for learning. It’s when I do that repeatedly or get sucked into social media that I get completely unfocused and zone out, missing class content,” senior Owen Fuesel said.
