Laptops In Class Are Major Source Of Distraction & Lower Grades Of Students

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While universities encourage students to use modern technology and have a laptop in the class, the results are not as expected. Instead of progressing in the studies and getting higher grades the students are staggering behind. Surfing the internet and socializing on famous websites is becoming a great source of distraction and is hindering learning.

 Indeed, studies have shown that laptops are a source of distraction in the classroom - not only for the student, but also, for those sitting near. Any other source of distraction like doodling, passing notes or using a mobile phone is easily detectable in the class but it is not easy to find out what a student is doing on his laptop, reports Daily Mail.

The social media websites have huge subscribers. Only Facebook has 800 million users and so are other websites like MySpace, Pinterest, and Twitter etc.  The socializing issue on social media websites has become a huge subject of today.

Social media is influencing heavily on the studies and grades of students especially those who are heavy users of these sites. The influence of these websites is deep on students' life, whether they realize it or no, according to Online College Courses.

West Point researchers found that using a laptop or tablet in the classroom had caused an overall drop of roughly one-fifth of a standard deviation. 18% reduction is recorded in the performance of the students who were allowed to use their tablets or laptops without restrictions while other with modifies tablets got a 17% drop.

The fact is that these negative effects are most seen in male students and those who had a history of higher GPA. The experts maintain that the modified and unrestricted devices both impose a danger on a student's performance. They both can lead to distraction. A student cannot take the notes effectively. The researchers find the behavior of professors also can change as they interact differently with a class where the students are using devices and surfing social media and other distracting websites.