In defense of the notebook
Written by Nicholas Reason, Senior Staff Writer
Anyone who has tried to hold a conversation in a sports bar walled with TVs — or, frankly, anyone who owns a cell phone — can attest to the siren-like allure of screens. No matter how hard you try, or how interesting the conversation is, your gaze ends up helplessly drifting back to the images flickering across the screen.
This phenomenon is pervasive in college classrooms today. The average UC San Diego lecture would look and sound almost unrecognizable to a student from just half a century ago: a sea of laptop screens and incessant typing punctuated every few moments by a text notification or an Instagram reel mistakenly played at full volume. This shift has had real, negative impacts on learning outcomes. Studies suggest that the distraction from the prevalence of screens in classrooms is infectious — the person online shopping during class harms not only their own learning, but also that of those sitting around them. Last week, in a class that doesn’t record attendance, I spent an entire lecture trying to wrest my eyes away from the NBA game the person sitting in front of me was watching — and actively betting on.
Setting aside peer distraction, laptops are simply less conducive to learning than old-fashioned pen and paper. In a setting where almost all professors upload their slides after class, the purpose of note-taking should not be to copy the lecture word for word, but instead to distill the information into useful, digestible chunks. The speed of typing incentivizes students to copy slides verbatim, with little need for cognitive processing. The physical limitation of handwritten notes, on the other hand, forces students to be more selective about what they write, leading to deeper understanding and retention.
There are, of course, some classes where technology bans would be impractical. An absolute ban on technology would hinder classes directly concerning computers or coding past practicality. In general, however, the professors who have chosen to ban laptops and the data on the subject appear to reach the same consensus: Students learn better when they don’t have the entire internet immediately available at their fingertips.
Students are distracted. Technology bans make it worse
Written by Gabriel Lozano, Contributing Writer
Students have a distraction problem, and technology has undeservedly taken the blame. It’s easy to come to this conclusion — one look inside a lecture hall and you’re likely to see students doomscrolling on social media. In response, many professors have adopted blanket bans on technology. These bans, however, do not address the root of students’ problems nor their needs in a technology-driven world.
Technology bans assume that everyone is distracted or waiting to be distracted by their devices. This can be frustrating for attentive students who want to utilize the tools at their disposal. The unfortunate reality is that technology bans don’t acknowledge the ways that lecture formats have changed. Many students depend on their tablets or laptops for note-taking, and many professors rely on projectors and screens to display their lecture content. This evens the field, allowing professors to display more information at a faster pace and helping students keep up by typing notes rather than handwriting them.
In classes where devices are prohibited, professors often fail to accommodate their lessons to these bans. It takes longer for their students to handwrite notes than it does to type them, and in my experience, professors often forget this. Students give in to their frustrations and stop taking notes in class, deeming it easier to wait until after class to look at the slideshows on Canvas. In this case, technology bans force students to spend more time taking notes at home rather than listening to the in-person lecture.
Students who want to pay attention in lecture will pay attention, with or without their devices. For those who weren’t planning on listening to their professors in the first place, technology is just a vessel for distractions. Even if universities were to take electronic devices away, these students would find something else to use up their time, like doodling in the margins of their notebook or debating whether walking all the way to Seventh College to order food from The Bistro after lecture is worth it.
Technology bans are a Band-Aid solution at best and a self-fulfilling prophecy at worst. Professors enforce technology bans to protect the sanctity of the traditional lecture format, but the simple truth is that lectures can’t be held in a pre-technology era because the roles of both students and professors are defined by technology. Lectures depend on devices now, and prohibiting them sets students up for a needlessly difficult quarter.
Put down the phone
Written by Suravi Bajaj, Associate Opinion Editor
To reduce distractions and sustain engagement in lecture halls, some UC San Diego professors are implementing a full ban on technology. This blanket stance is not the solution, especially for students exploring technology-centered careers. We must use electronic devices to enhance our learning rather than wholly succumbing to their negative effects.
The disadvantages of technology use in the classroom are apparent, with recent research showing declining student test scores may be a result of distractions from unmonitored use. However, if educators can control distractions while still leveraging technology’s advantages, a mixed-use approach allowing certain devices — such as laptops or iPads but not cellphones — can work in their favor.
Digital polls, for example, allow professors to gauge students’ understanding of concepts while also encouraging participation without the fear of being wrong in front of one’s peers. If a Mentimeter poll shows 70% of the class is confused about a concept, the professor can address it immediately, rather than finding out when grading midterms three weeks later.
However, the benefits of technology in classrooms do not extend to cellphones, which studies show are particularly distracting. In a 2023 study, 49 college students were asked to turn off their cell phones and either keep them face down on their desk or place them outside the room during a concentration and attention test. The results showed that, regardless of use, the mere presence of the smartphone is a distraction, with the first group performing worse than the latter. A cellphone-free classroom as opposed to a tech-free classroom would be a good middle ground.
Banning technology in class counteracts efforts to effectively incorporate it into our daily lives. Let’s reclaim technology as a source of knowledge to complement our learning rather than a distraction.
