Technology Distractions

By Gayle Golden

Technology has become essential in the classroom, of course -- except when it distracts. And too often, as any instructor knows, those smartphones and laptops aren’t always complementing your lectures.


Yet instructors can feel pretty powerless to combat the lure of technology in the hands of students who sometimes find it more alluring than the course material. Should you intervene? Should you shrug and figure the student is in charge of wasting those tuition dollars? “When I first started teaching I didn’t think I could control technology in the classroom, but I realize I can,” says HSJMC assistant professor Amy O’Connor, who has taught some of the school’s largest classes, which are most prone to the technology abusers. Not only can you set the ground rules for technology use in your class, O’Connor says, it’s your obligation to do so. She has established a few simple strategies for saying no to devices, setting rules for engagement that not only keep her classes focused but also teach valuable professional standards in the process.

Raise awareness

The first step, she says, is some old-fashioned consciousness raising. Sometimes students don’t realize the impact of what they’re doing when they text or web surf in class. So O’Connor asks them a few pointed questions: As our students, might they one day need a reference from their professor? Looked at that way, isn’t their behavior in the classroom a quasi-interview situation with a prospective reference? So would they whip out a cell phone and distractedly text in the middle of an interview? If not, then perhaps they ought not to do so in while the professor is lecturing. O’Connor also points out that students are paying thousands of dollars per class for their education. Does it make sense, then, that they’re using that time to text a friend or post on Facebook? Merely considering these points provides some poignant perspective for students.

Establish the rules

O’Connor also sets up clear and respectful rules of engagement around technology use. If students require a laptop for note-taking because of a disability, she will ask them to sit in the back or the front – their choice – but not the middle, where they are likely to be more distracting for students. She also understands students might have circumstances that require cell phone use, such as emergencies or interview calls. If that’s the case, she tells students to alert her at the start of class and sit close to the exit. When the call comes through, she asks them to answer it quickly and leave immediately so as not to disturb the class. Such rules apply beyond classroom situations into the adult world they’re entering. “Ultimately,” she says, “it’s a matter of mutual respect,” she says, which is important for students to carry into the workplace.

Debunk multitasking

O’Connor agrees students are ill-served by the idea that they can multitask and still learn. “They think they can multitask, and they can’t,” she says. Indeed, multitasking is a myth. One recent study has shown that smartphones reduce a person’s focus by merely being in the room without even being used.  Other studies have shown that taking notes by hand versus a laptop correlates with better retention. The stakes may be even greater for technology distraction. O’Connor also points out the work of psychologist Jean Twenge’s, including one piece featured in this month’s Atlantic Magazine, in which she argues that the millennial generation’s dependence on smartphones has created a mental health crisis.

Create spaces

Although we may not be able to address that big a problem in our class policies around technology use, we can at least do our best to create spaces as well as policies to offer alternatives to dizzy distraction. Sometimes that can include willfully imposing non-technology time in classes where technology is central. For example, in my Community Journalism class last spring, students became so distracted by creating a news website for the university's disabled community they could barely make progress on the broader goal of thinking about how to create meaningful coverage. Entire class periods were spent on screens. Ideas stalled.

We solved the problem by banning all technology for a 30-minute kick-off meeting, At the start of each class we formed a circle to discuss ideas. No cell phones or computers allowed. We called it our “womb time.” Once we started those meetings, the project took off. Ideas flowed. Connections flourished. Bottom line: Don’t be afraid to impose some non-tech time into the tech-heavy classes as well. Students might actually begin to breathe more easily.

If you have a question or a comment for ProActive Teaching, please post one below or email me at ggolden@umn.edu.