When it comes to the millennial generation, people’s heads always seem to be glued to their phones, but being on the phone may not be such a bad thing.
Some professors at college allow students to use their phones and laptops in class. Granted when students have the privilege to do so, being on social media may not be the only applications being checked. It may now be time to start adapting to using technology at school and in the workplace.
“Telling people in my generation to put our phones away is not a solution,” an article in the New York Times stated. “Just ask our teachers how that has worked for them.”
Now that technology has increased, people have the ability to use their phones for everything. Out of all the thousands of apps and features people have on their phones, people are now starting to use them to take notes. Because people use their phones on a daily basis, it may be time to start incorporating it in class and at work.
Many people use their phones frequently throughout the day, especially students.
“I am on my phone most of the day unless I am at a board meeting,” said Plattsburgh State sophomore, Jayah Arnett. “Ten hours of the day I am on my phone.”
There can be pros and cons to having smartphones in college or in the workplace. One factor that is beneficial to students is the ability to check an email. If a professor sends out a last-minute email saying that class is canceled, the student notices the notification right away. Emailing is one of the primary communications tools in college. If the head of a company emails their employee to do a certain task, the employee is not left out of the loop. All the information needed is right there at our fingertips according to an article in the New York Times.
“I use my phone for just about anything and it comes in handy academically,” said PSUC senior and public relation major, Yesenia Reynoso. “I use my phone as a note taker, an alarm, a calculator. I often email professors from my phone. A lot of the apps I have help me academically like Groupme.”
One consequence of using a smartphone in the classroom or in the workplace can be they are a distraction, according to lovetoknow.com, an online media company that owns and operates a family of websites dedicated to providing high quality, useful information to users. The ability to check your social media at the click of a button is very easy.
“For classes I don’t need my phone. I use it as far as any messages that come in or emails,” Steven Howell, a journalism lecturer at PSUC, said. “I don’t need to have my phone surgically attached to my hand.”
Howell believes that some generations over use their phone. He understands the allure of using a phone but there is a time and place for it.
“As a journalists if you are using a cell phone at work like to record something then it’s totally legit, but sometimes the phone is a distraction,” Howell said
There is not really much of a solution to using your smartphone in the classroom or the workplace. There are other ways to take notes other than using a smartphone. People are inclined to check their phone at the slightest message.
“You have to self-police yourself,” Howell said. “I can’t make you not use your phone, how do you teach somebody that you don’t have to be that dependent on that piece of technology? When are you in control of that technology and when does it control you?”
Email Breyana Anderson at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
