Students Feel Guilty For Texting During Class, Still Text During Class

A guilty conscience is not enough to dissuade college students from texting during class, according to a new study conducted at the University of New Hampshire.

The study found that of the 1,043 students questioned, 49 percent said they felt guilty texting during a class that expressly forbid the practice -- but 65 percent reported sending around one text message per class.

According to the study, business students text in class more than other students and women are more likely than men to text during class.

The survey was conducted by the members of a student research class taught by UNH adjunct professor Chuck Martin, who told the Chronicle of Higher Education that his students expected that other students throughout the university would, if given the option, want to be allowed to text during class. Only 40 percent of those questioned, however, agreed that texting should be permitted in class. Thirty-seven percent opposed the idea and 23 percent were neutral.

Do you text during class? Do you feel like you shouldn't? Share in the comments section.

Comments

[Lex Anton]

10:56 AM on 03/15/2011

I avoid as much as possible to not text in class. I only text in class to tell my ride I need to get picked up soon because class is getting out early or whatever. I don't even put my phone on vibrate because everyone can hear it and also, there is no freaking signal at my college!!!

[JoeyDee2]

01:38 PM on 03/01/2011

I teach college and on the first day I say something about texting during class not being appreciated. It goes on anyway and I will not play monitor or threaten. The students are adults; it's their nickel. What's being avoided being said is that for many texting is a compulsion bordering on addiction.

Observation (outside the classroom): I was in line at a convenience store to pay for gas. In front of me a man in his 40s perhaps, a bit worn about the edges, was texting madly. He purchased a bottle of water and candy bar with a credit card (that suggests another story). During the transaction, he paused not a bit, his thumbs a blur. At minimum, it’s a compulsion.

[Melanie DIsidoro]

01:45 AM on 03/01/2011

My biggest concern is this. I live 24 hours from my home in MT (I go to school in NM) where my mother, stepdad, and 2 younger brothers live. The rest of my family including my grandparents and father live on the east coast. I would hate to have something happen to anyone of them and not know as soon as possible. There are exactly two flights from where I go to school to the nearest airport to my hometown. And then I have a 2hr drive from the airport to my house. Not to mention the 1 her drive to the airport, and there is the 2hr check in/ security process. If something were to happen to one of my family members and because of a 70 min class where I cannot have my phone, I miss being by their side; I would never be able to forgive myself.

People who don’t understand my generation’s connection to technology will say things like: “They have ways of getting in touch with you besides your phone,” or “Do your really need it?” Now my campus is not exceptionally big but I would hate to have the job of finding one specific student.. And as for the NEED it let me ask you this. Do you really NEED an oven? As far as I know a fire will heat all food just fine. Building a fire in this day and age is not very practical is it?
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[Lisbeth35]

10:59 AM on 03/01/2011

no offense, but you sound like someone that thinks that in every situation, you are the special exception. You came up with quite an elaborate scenario to excuse your special right to use your phone and text in class. Do you think everyone else around you doesn't have loved ones? There is no doubt all people in the classroom (including the instructor) would be willing to make an exception, but the elaborate details of why you think your phone use in class as acceptable is quite telling.

[Geoprof]

11:06 AM on 03/01/2011

aahhemmmm.......those of us over 35 fondly remember a time when one was not a slave to the cell phone, blackberry, iphone, etc. Life was much simpler then. Also, we did get word when something happened to a member of our family. Texting and/or talking on the phone at inappropriate times, places, and situations are the ultimate of rudeness. Please be present wherever you are, at least in respect for your fellow travelers.

[Melanie DIsidoro]

01:43 AM on 03/01/2011

I text in class except for one where the teacher has said that if we are caught we will be kicked out of the room. However, I do check my phone periodically throughout said class. If you look at my notebook for that class it is all doodles and my name written over and over in different styles.

So here are my points. One, even in class where no phones are allowed I still check my phone. In the class that I do not text, I doodle. Phones are part of what society has become for better or for worst, and I use my phone for more than just texting. It has my calendar on it. It has my clock on it. It has web capabilities on it that I use to check email. I get calls from my job on it. In the one class that I have where phones are strictly prohibited we are constantly asked questions about current events that the teacher doesn’t know and is just curious if anyone has the information, and it bothers me to no end that I cannot just whip out my phone and google the answer. I have a world, literally, at my fingertips and am not allowed to access it.
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[basta]

12:54 AM on 03/01/2011

People need to learn to talk to strangers, meet new people. That's what a lot of college is about. If one is disengaged with the people in the class, a lot is being lost. On the other hand, a lot of professors do not encourage interaction between students. They usually encourage competition which keeps people apart.

[Sunny California]

11:12 PM on 02/28/2011

I remember reading a comment online on some website (I forgot), and someone commented on teachers enforcing attendance policies in college. Another commenter replied well since I'm a student who is paying my own tuition out of my pocket, I should dictate when I get to show up.

[minusjason]

09:34 PM on 02/28/2011

I don't text in class, unless it's something very important (this amounts to maybe two times in a semester). Things can wait. What amazes me, though, is that the guy who sits next to me in my finance class sits there and texts almost the entire time, with his phone right out in the open, and the professor hasn't said anything about it yet in 6 weeks of class. Her syllabus says no phones. Many people in this class text frequently. And surprise...! The discussion in that class is dead, and the class is dreadfully boring.

[timotay89]

09:18 PM on 02/28/2011

What I've taught, if I see a phone anywhere except your pocket or belt, you're absent for the day. You're allowed two absences per semester, after those your final grade for the course drops 10 points for each one. I've taught 3 classes with this policy and I've seen a total of two phones total.

[Ladyrantsalot]

06:54 PM on 02/28/2011

I've been a college professor since the early 1990s, and I've watched an astonishing transformation in the social practices [emotional life?] of the students at my university since then. About 10 years ago, they were talking on their cell phones 24/7. Now they never stop texting. If they walk alone, they text, if they are walking in a group, one person is inevitably texting (or yammering on the phone). I can't tell you how many times I've walked past a student who is texting and, when I say "hi," they are totally oblivious to the fact that that they've just been hailed. When I walk into the classroom to start a class, about 75% of the students are texting. They don't talk to each other. It's bizarre to walk into a classroom full of young people and experience this total silence and almost complete emotional disengagement from one another. I don't sense they are texting during the class but, the second class ends, it's odd to watch 75% of the class lift up their phones to start texting again. I feel as though I'm living in "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Part 3." I guess I'm old fashioned, but I think humans are a lot healthier when they interact in person.

[rjmtx]

09:14 PM on 02/28/2011

It is weird. What's even weirder for me is going to a more intimate setting like a restaurant, coffee shop, or living rooms, and seeing people texting away silently. A couch with three people texting on it just freaks me out, and I have to speak up.

[Lisbeth35]

11:19 AM on 03/01/2011

it is interesting...about 5 years ago, I noticed the minute we would have a break in class, everyone would whip out their cell phones....most were calling their parents. Now, they are more likely to text. I do spend quite a bit of time trying to form a community for the students in my classes. I think it is more important for them to spend the couple hours a week we are together to make those collegial connections...after all, the person sitting next to them can be a great support system and connection for them as they enter their new profession.

[Ladyrantsalot]

06:38 PM on 03/01/2011

They also may be sitting next to their future spouses, if they deigned to look at them.

[bessielil]

04:49 PM on 02/28/2011

Using phones in class makes me crazy. I forbid it in the syllabus and out loud. The first couple of times I warn (freshman addicts) but have asked students to leave twice over the last four years. They seem mortified, and are always abashed after the fact.

A couple of times perfectly nice students held up phones in front of them to read a text. What the what? Given that people will pay to see a film, and pay more to see a Broadway play, I try not to take it personally that they would text in front of me, since they would also do so in front of Philip Seymour Hoffman. (just trying to protect myself from comments that I must be boring and should step up my act a bit)

[abbienormal]

11:26 AM on 03/01/2011

Don't worry about being boring. I find that the bored students are the ones that didn't do the reading/homework and have no idea what we are talking about.

[Catlovesyourmom19]

03:43 PM on 02/28/2011

I don't text in class unless there is an emergency because I feel that, not only is it disrespectful to the professor who took the time to put together an hour long lecture, but it is a waste of the money that I will be spending to pay off my school loans. I frequently am distracted by others who text (secretly or openly) and I do not wish to distract anyone else who might be trying to pay attention. I also find it incredibly annoying when someone's cell vibrates every 2 minutes during the lecture.

[galaxian]

11:43 AM on 02/28/2011

This makes for a great Onion headline.

[Collin Bohlke]

11:10 AM on 02/28/2011

I feel that it is rude to text during class but I have to admit that I am guilty of this. I usually turn my phone to silent during class so I do not feel it vibrate and therefore I don't have the urge to check the text. I guess it is just a personally choice on the student's part. Essentially, you are paying for the class, if you don't want to pay attention and take responsibility for your education, then don't even attend the class. You are wasting the professor's time along with your own by texting and not paying attention in class, along with your own money!

[sandystranger]

10:38 AM on 02/28/2011

I think it is extremely rude and a stupid waste of your time to text during a class. However, you (or your parents) are the one that is paying for you to be there, so if you choose to ignore the instructor, I suppose that is your right. One the other hand, if you are distracting others from learning then the teacher should be able to make you stop.

[Lisbeth35]

12:36 PM on 02/28/2011

Glad you acknowledge texting in class is disruptive for everyone else around you. Do you feel being a distraction for everyone else your right as well?
Teachers should not be expected to "make you stop"; how on earth would you recommend that anyway?...students need to take responsibility for themselves.