Should Students Be Allowed to Use Mobile Phones in Class?


45History is a body of times, which appear through the integration of epoches. Events that have great effects on society may put an end to an epoch and usher a new epoch. With the discovery of the Internet, the age of technology began. Technology epoch is the epoch of today and we have some requirements for modernisation. In this point, the biggest requirement is surely technological tools that are an essential part of our lives. Cellphones have become a part of our body aside from computers and tablets that we can easily reach even in public schools. Is it necessary and possible for us to leave our cellphones in the school environment while we cannot leave them even we are asleep? My opinion is that this situation is not necessary as it is absolutely impossible. I strongly believe that phones should be allowed to use in schools due to a better education, easy access to information, and safety.

     To begin with, students should be allowed to use cellphones to provide a better education. As is known, there is a computer lab in each school and the labs include up to forty computers. This number is not enough for all students in school and also students cannot use them whenever they wish and need. For this reason, I find using cellphones in school useful. For example, some of the lecturers at Istanbul University allow to use phones during the lesson for educational applications like Kahoot. Kahoot is a free app, which teaches new English words and grammar by means of fun. On the other hand, many phone apps offer visual representations and voiced-applications for students who have dyslexia, in other words, for those who do not use their brain as fast as normal people and suffer from mathematical ability, writing, reading, reasoning, and so on. These challenges cause them to stay incomplete in the fast course environment. Thus, under these circumstances, the students start to play truant. However, the applications in cellphones which are for dyslexic students make lectures/lessons easier to understand and increase the students’ attendance to school. In brief, in my view students should be allowed to use cellphones for a good quality education.

     In addition, easy access to information is based on the fact that students are allowed to use their phones at school. Knowledge is stored to long-term memory when it is learned curiously. To take the case of English lessons, when we hear a new word that we do not know, using a phone enables us to learn its meaning quickly and easily. Not only dictionaries for language classes, but also calculators for maths classes are useful and necessary things. For instance, I am studying at Istanbul University Foreign Language College and sometimes I need to learn the pronunciation of a word during the lesson.  At these times I use my phone for Tureng app to learn the pronunciation of the word with my headphone. Besides, easy access to information is linked to saving time, too. That’s why school principals and teachers should be more tolerant and reasonable on this issue. Which is more comfortable: spending all day in the library or finding the information just with a click? As is predicted, finding a piece  of  information takes a long time in the libraries and it is boring for teens. Instead, almost all people- especially teens- choose the use phones. To sum up, students should be allowed to use cellphones for easy access to information.

     Moreover, students should be let to use cellphones because of their safety. As in case of an emergency, a cellphone can be very essential to contact family members. For example, when i was in high school, a girl- who is my classmate- was not here in attendance list even though in the first lesson she was here. After the lesson, we were worried about her, got the girl’s name announced and at last, we were starting to search her. When we found her, she was locked in dressing room in basement floor. If she had a cellphone, the event was not happened. On the other hand, you would have to call for help if a man is shooting or there was an earthquake. It is a minimal chance but it can happen. With an example, five years before in a day of March, a conflict has happened between police forces and a group of activist in Kağıthane ITO. While this circumstance that did not appear o  media was happening, students of KAITO contact with their family. Because of these reasons, I think students should be let to use  cellphones at school for safety.

     To put it bluntly, students benefit from technological devices and internet which are essential part of our generation. All things considered, mobile phones should not be banned in schools since they provide students with a better education, easy access to information, and safety. I think that students using the Internet and cellphones in school will make the students more conscious and successful.


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