Graduation rates are dropping and depression rates are increasing the cause; cell phones. Motivation is hard to come by as a teacher in today’s ever growing electronic society. Teacher’s struggle to get students to pay attention and cell phones have only made their job harder. “Phones deceive students not thinking they can multitask, but they can’t. They aren’t developing the skills they need for life,” History teacher Charrica Osborne said. Students already lack motivation without the use of phones and phones make it worse. Students who heavily use cell phones and computers complain more about sleep disturbances, stress and other mental health problems, according to researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Psychology teacher Lanita Smith said “It’s hard to get students engaged in learning if they don’t see the point behind it or something else is on their mind. Emotional distress is also a factor.” It is already a struggle to get students to engage in class and cell phones make it harder because they are a huge distraction. Nathan Bruce said, “The way school works in the United States is inherently flawed because we value obedience over intelligence.” This fact alone stresses students out and makes it hard to want to do the work. Students aren’t motivated to do their work because “often times they don’t see a future in it,” teacher John Kirby said.
Often times students feel the classroom is where “only a certain group of kids do their work while the rest just play on their phones,” Jordan Shull said.
“It’s very diverse some want to succeed and go beyond while others take advantage of their situation and slack off.” Hilario Escalon said. “Unless someone has the motivation to do something they aren’t going to find it in the classroom.” Nathan Bruce said. Students also may suffer from mental, physical, or emotional distress that causes them to lack motivation.