When we talk about using phones, there is no doubt that they can be addictive if care is not taken. For the past few months, we’ve been strict about monitoring my younger brother, who is just about to turn 18 this year.
Dad bought him an Android phone to use, at least since he is out of secondary school and most of the time is the one with his younger siblings at home. There would be a need to communicate with him at times and also for him to call.
Dad almost came to regret his actions of buying him the phone because he had to seize the phone from him several times and when Dad gave back the phone he would always do the same things he was warned not to.
There was a day when I was with him all through. I wasn't paying attention to him at first but he made me pay more attention. Every time I walked by where he was, he was always on the phone, fully concentrating on it. Then I thought he should be doing something related to learning, but I found out that throughout the whole day, he was just shuffling between watching movies and playing games.
I got annoyed and had to warn him about the consequences of his actions if care was not taken. I saw examples of a guy who had an extra year in the university all because he was so concentrated on his phone and not his academics. So who is to be blamed?
STUDENTS AND PHONE USAGE
Our neighbor's son resumed the tertiary institution some months ago. After a few months, Mum asked his parents for his phone number so they could greet him. Then his dad said they don't allow phones in his school except if you call his school guardian. That’s a tertiary institution for that matter and no phones are allowed.
I guess the use of phones is just overhyped. I am so sure that our parents and those before them also studied in the tertiary institution without phones, and they also excelled in their studies. Yeah, we are now in the advanced digital age of computer technology and that's fine, but that doesn’t make it a necessity to have phones.
If students are to use phones then I think it should be with some restrictions. Nowadays students make use of their phones to read PDF files, browse the internet for assignments and extra reading, make use of the e-library, and also have group chat updates.
This is one of the advantages of phone usage in our era. But having phones in exam halls and the use of AI has made the use of phones so scary, that students might not be able to think as much anymore since they are mostly dependent on their device for aids. Common calculations, formulas, and phrases they are to have an understanding of will become so hard for them all because they are dependent on the use of AI.
In conclusion, there is always an advantage and disadvantages to everything. So I would conclude by saying the use of phones by students shouldn’t be completely banned, but there should be restrictions and monitoring when they are in use.
This is my response to the HIVE LEARNERS weekly prompt in hive learners community for the Week 149 Edition 3 and the topic to be discussed is NO PHONES ALLOWED
