Introduction
Mobile phones, which were invented a few decades ago, have become important communication devices utilized by society members of all ages. One age group that has made persistent use of mobile phones is teenagers. Teenagers’ overuse of phones has had a marked effect on their school lives. This paper will address the negative impacts that mobile phones are having on teenagers’ school life.
Mobile Phones for Teenagers: Negative Impacts
Mobile phones impose financial pressures on teenagers since these devices act as status symbol objects. Campbell (2005) confirms that most teenagers have the desire to upgrade their phones in order to fit in with their peers.
Since most teenagers do not have a source of income, they have to rely on their families to buy them phones and pay the phone bills. This raises issues of financial disputes and some teenagers end up stealing money from their parents to spend on their phones.
Teenagers use mobile phones to aid in cheating during exams. Students use their cell phones to communicate with each other during exams and therefore obtain answers to the test questions. Students can also cheat by getting answers from their phone memory or the internet.
Campbell (2005) documents that while teenagers have always engaged in cheating; mobile phones have increased the level of sophistication in cheating and decreased the chances of the misconduct being detected by the teacher.
Mobile phones are also problematic in school since they increase the level of disruption. Research indicates that teenagers are reluctant to switch off their phones while in class and this leads to learning activity being disrupted when the student receives a call or a text (Campbell, 2005).
Even when the student does not access his/her mobile phone, the excitement of finding out what the message is about results in the student losing interest in the class leading to poor academic outcomes.
Conclusion
Mobile phones have significant negative impacts on teenagers’ school life. This paper has demonstrated that mobile phones cause financial difficulties, enhance cheating, and disrupt lessons. Parents and teachers should therefore forbid teenagers from having mobile phones in school.
Reference
Campbell, M A 2005, The impact of the mobile phone on young people’s social life, Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century Conference, QUT Carseldine, Brisbane.