Stop Texting. Let’s Talk.

In a recent article in the New York Times titled “Stop Googling. Let’s talk,” professor Sherry Turkle explores the ways technology affects the younger generation. In particular, she marks the drawbacks that phones pose. At Exeter, seeing students on their phones is common, both in and out of class. Inside classrooms, this is usually how it goes: one eye on the teacher, the other on the iPhone. The student taps his or her thumbs furiously on his or her mobile screen. The teacher’s eyes glide around the table and his eyes reach the student with the phone under the Harkness desk. The student maintains a serious expression or innocently smiles, assuring the teacher of his full attention. The phone being completely out of his view, the teacher has no way of knowing the student’s duplicity. So the student continues to fidget throughout the rest of the class, half-heartedly participating from time to time.The fact that we misuse our phones in classes should not surprise anyone. Students do it all the time, whether to continue a chat with their friends, to check the time or to go on social media. Despite its silent performance, this seemingly innocuous act has bothered me many times. As someone who has also previously—and ashamedly—used a phone in class, I personally know how hard it is to multitask and how easy it is to lose track of the discussion. Hence, when students who were fidgeting with their phones a second ago decide to participate, it’s most often digressive or unintentionally subversive to the flow of the discussion. The discussion stumbles and other students put in multiple tries to rescue it. Finally, the dialogue continues to proceed after an inconvenient delay. The end result is a Harkness discussion that could have been developed better, and the students who came to class excited to learn from the discussion leave disappointed by the frivolous outcome.Using mobile phones in class is not only discourteous to the students but also to the teacher(s) sitting at the table. Students, whether on their phones or not, are urged to contribute by the single fact that participation is a large part of their grades. But the mobile users who participate are tricking the teacher, pretending to have been focused in the discussion. It’s an inconsiderate act behind the back of the teacher, and despite the students’ belief, the teachers must notice it from time to time. Needless to say, teachers might feel disrespected by the act and by their presumed naiveté. It is also impossible to reprimand each student every time he or she is caught on their phones as it would further ruin the discussion. The students may also be deceiving themselves if they think they can focus in class with their phones under the tables.Turkle states that according to studies, merely the presence of a phone on a table between people “or in the periphery of their vision changes both what they talk about and the degree of connection they feel.” I agree. Phones have a guileful way of disconnecting people and of leading people to “keep the conversation on topics where they won’t mind being interrupted.” But more significantly, the prestigious education we receive at Exeter is an incontrovertible privilege. If we are going to squander this opportunity by misbehaving on our phones and giving halfhearted efforts, whose loss is it going to be in the end?Classrooms are not the only place of offense. Assembly hall is another crime scene. When phone users are caught by faculty members, their interruption to collect the phones disrupts the presentation on the stage. But unlike for a single class of 12 or 13 students, the faculty’s intervention affects a wider range of people who witness the act. Instead of focusing on the speaker on stage, it is—at least temporarily—much more interesting to see who the poor lamb is that got caught by the faculty for using his or her phone. Even the students who don’t really care who the “victims” were are momentarily distracted by the movement in the way. Last year, Dean Cosgrove sent an email to the whole school asking to put our phones away during assembly as it is greatly rude to the speaker. I want to add that sitting in assembly with phones between our thighs is rude to both the speaker and the audience.The problem is only exacerbated by the fact that the E-Book does not address misuse of phones at all, aside from misconduct through cyberbullying. Using phones in classes could be well considered a form of misconduct that is unprofessional and disrespectful. As many of our class syllabi have underscored in the beginning of the year, respect for our peers and our teachers is the fundamental principle upon which a successful Harkness discussion can be held. Using phones at the table is an impairment to the discussion, to education in general and to appropriate socialization. Punishments, whether they be minor or major, need to exist for such misbehavior, as it has already become a deeply ingrained part of the Exeter culture. The silent phones are slowly disconnecting us from the true Exeter culture.