As schools across the U.S. start to move toward stricter cellphone policies and as state and national movements to limit technology continue, the University of Pittsburgh community airs their take on the screen ban, citing its possible effects in a higher education setting.
In December, Pitt’s Educational Policies Committee discussed a potential University-wide cellphone ban in classrooms, citing distraction and mental health concerns. However, the committee has not yet reached a decision, and the discussion raises broader questions in the community about technological distractions in class.
This article from The Pitt News showed the various opinions from some students and a teacher on the ongoing issue.
Rahitha Gopinathan, a junior bioengineering student, believes that a screen ban would be ineffective, noting that students may need their phones for communication, especially during emergencies, and for academic reasons, such as taking pictures of notes on the board.
“I don’t think a ban would be effective because people are going to find ways to use their phones, or their phones on their laptops,” Gopinathan said. “I don’t think a phone ban is effective at all.”
Riya Desai, a sophomore political science and music student, also echoes the sentiment of Gopinathan. Although she gets distracted in class by homework for separate classes, online browsing, or crosswords, she thinks phone bans would be ineffective.
“It’s dumb because there are emergencies,” Desai said. “People wouldn’t listen to a phone ban in classrooms.”
For Connor Donovan, a graduate math student in his final semester, there may be advantages to technology, but students often benefit from a screen-free environment.
“I’m also a T[eaching] A[ssistant], and people that aren’t on their phones are definitely getting more out of recitation,” Donovan said. “I think that if you’re paying for college, you should be responsible enough to stay off your phone.”
Meanwhile, some professors observed that balancing student freedom and implementing bans in the classroom is a delicate matter.
Amy Murray Twyning, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the English Literature department, does not believe in outright banning screens but expects her students to use physical books and printed articles in class.
“There’s nothing wrong with the technology,” Murray Twyning said. “It’s the habits of mind and concentration that I’m trying to encourage.”
Murray Twyning said students have accepted her screen policy for laptops and phones, treating it as an agreement, not a ban.
She added that her rule discouraging screens in the classroom is effective, and she is seeing the results of more professors moving towards real-world engagement in work.
“I have seen incredible work [this year] from students — really brilliant stuff that I haven’t seen in the past two or three years,” Murray Twyning said. “And I don’t think that’s because I’m banning screens, but because I’m making other things possible.”