Classroom Cell Phone Etiquette

On a recent Television show I saw a man sitting in a restaurant eating with a friend. A cell phone rang at the next table and the diner answered and started having a loud conversation. The first man pulled a cell phone jammer out of his pocket and blocked the conversation. In the next scene, you see the talker looking at his phone puzzled, then he shrugged and went back to eating. The first man says to his companion, “I really hate it when people have loud phone conversations in public…It’s so rude.”

I don’t know about you but there have been many times that I would have liked to have one of those jammers. The classroom is one of them. Most students will put their cell phone on vibrate in class. If they forget, they will immediately shut it off and apologize. In a recent survey of college students, only 4% thought answering the phone in class was ok. However, 45% thought texting and 33% thought playing games on their phone was acceptable behavior.

Society is still trying to get a general consensus on when and where it is ok to talk on your cell phone. In many areas, there are quiet cars on commuter trains where no cell phone or computer speakers are allowed. Many theaters and most courtrooms and museums are now cell phone free.

One college professor got so angry that he walked out of the class because students were texting each other in his class. In the past students would pass notes to each other in class if they wanted to say something and just couldn’t wait. Today, students text each other.

The ubiquity of the cell phone is changing how people communicate. Not only do they talk to and text each other, but many people listen to music or watch TV on their cell phones.

While paying attention is not a requirement of attending class, it seems pretty dumb to pay a lot of money to sit in class and text your friends. Also, while you may not want or need to pay attention, others in the class may want to and you are distracting them. Since they also paid to attend the class, they have just as much of a right to listen without you disturbing them as you do to use your cell phone.

So, in the meantime, while society makes up its mind about what constitutes acceptable cell phone use, you should exercise common courtesy. If the professor is lecturing, it is just plain rude to answer your phone or obviously send a text message.