Years ago, when I was in secondary school, I didn’t have a mobile phone or any kind of technology. I remember how we studied, we went through our books and various guides. But now we have all types of technology. Technology is everywhere and it also enters classrooms. Mobile phones are even asked to be used inside classrooms in college for searching study material or to see a video regarding a lecture or anything. It is mandatory. When professors ask you to investigate it, most will just use social media or play games in the name of looking for notes. Also, many bring a laptop for college work but don’t use it for that. Instead, they just use it for watching movies during their free period. Technology helps us in various ways like understanding concepts easier, but we must admit that it also affects our studies. Let’s see the Ten Reasons – How Using Technology in College Classroom Affects Students’ Studies:
1. Affects Creativity
When technology was driven inside the classrooms, students didn’t use their creativity. They stopped thinking. For reading or solving problems or writing, they won’t use their mind. To find an idea for a project or assignment, whatever it is, they just took their phone and looked for the answer in it. Technology made our minds numb. Because everything comes at ease with technology, we won’t bother to think or do new things. We depend on technology way too much. It destroyed our creativity.
2. A Major Distraction
In the classroom, the teacher asked you to look for something related to your academics on the internet but are you searching for it? NO! You’re scrolling social media. Even though you took the mobile to search for it, after seeing a notification from social media, you went to see what it was. Technology is a major distraction; you take your phone or laptop or any device for studying but you end up doing something utterly useless. You waste your precious time. It distracts you from your studies and goals.
3. The Dehumanizing Effect
As we are studying also through technology, even in classrooms we must interact through power point presentations, charts, etc. It has a Dehumanizing effect on us. Because we keep on interacting with this technology, our interaction with people decreased a lot. Due to this, teachers don’t have any personal relationships with students unlike in the old days. When you go into technology, you enter a different environment, a different world. Thus, you no longer connect with the real world you live in.
4. Dependency
When you’re at a certain age, you’re expected to be independent. You MUST be independent. But technology makes sure we are dependent on them for everything. Because you have technology at hand all the time, you use it for everything. Also, you are addicted to technology, you use it all the time. This affects students’ ability to learn or remember. Being engrossed in technology, students are the ones who are affected a lot. They can’t even say what they studied yesterday, as technology is the only thing on their mind.
5. Affects Mental Health
Technology affects our mental health. What do you expect when you keep on staring at electronic gadgets most of the day? It causes eyesight problems, anxiety, depression, and many more. Technology is used even inside classrooms, which makes these effects even worse. As lessons are being taught through technology, students are learning technology more than the lessons. More screen time can cause low self-esteem and emotional and behavioral changes, it also gave a feeling of loneliness.
6. Isolation
Technology is a so-called “connection between people” But it is isolating us from our surrounding people. When you have the technology, you won’t connect with the outer world. As it even entered classrooms, you’re always doing something with your mobile not talking with your friends. Technology has become a safer place to escape real-life problems. But we can’t escape reality, we must face it. As even teachers teach through technology, students also study through it. This causes them to rely on technology more rather than on people.
7. High Affordability
Even when technology is everywhere, not everyone can afford it. For some, sending their child to school/college itself is very hard. So, they can’t buy anything related to technology. In classrooms, everyone can use technology like presentations shown to everyone. But at home, they can’t study through technology. As nowadays everyone studies through technology, it is a lack for people who don’t have it. This creates a gap between people who have the technology.
8. Misguided
Well, when is the last time you studied through a textbook? Probably in higher secondary. Everyone studies through mobile phones or laptops. After the teacher taught a lesson, if they had any doubts, they won’t ask them, teachers or fellow students, they just went to the internet. But they forget that not all the information on the web is true. Even teachers nowadays teach with online notes which is disheartening. Thus, you’re misguided with wrong information through technology.
9. Multitasking
Technology created multitasking. We multitask, thinking it saves time. But, in the end, you didn’t do anything productively. As in classrooms, technology is used to take classes, even tests are conducted through it. This reduces the academic performance of students, as when they are dealing with technology, they will be more conscious about using it correctly. Thus, their learning experience won’t be nice as they’re multitasking, and they can’t focus on their studies.
10. Cheating Becomes Easier
When the teacher gives you a quiz in class that you must attend through mobile, students easily get an answer from the browser and do it. Even in exams, students use their mobile phones to write answers. They browse for the answer to the question in the question paper and even use scanned documents on mobile for writing answers. Thus, they won’t even bother studying. But they don’t know this will affect them badly later.
