While I prefer to put away my cellphone when doing homework, I can see how students could benefit from having a cellphone around. I think it is fine for students to use cellphones while studying as long as they can stay focused.

One reason is that many students are accustomed to studying with music. They find that certain types of music put them into a “study mode”, and that music can make the monotony of studying more bearable. My friend, for example, has a hard time sitting in one place unless she plays classical music. Normally she is very high energy and distractible, but while listening to classical music, she calms down and becomes highly focused. For students like her, a cellphone is a highly useful study aid. It allows her to bring music with her anywhere, so she is not limited to just studying in her room where stereo is.

Another reason is that students sometimes need to use the internet to do research or check assignments, but it is not always possible or desirable for them to carry a laptop around. In these situations, a cellphone is a good substitute. I remember one time when I had to complete history assignment while on a family vocation. There wasn’t access to the internet where we were going, so my laptop would have been useless for research. Instead,i used my cellphone ‘s 3G connection to do my research and wrote the assignment by hand. The vocation was much more relaxing because I didn’t have to lug my heavy laptop and charge around, and I still finished the assignment on time.

Some will point out that the cellphones can potentially distract students from their work. This is true, but in my experience they are far less distracting than laptops, which students use quite frequently for schoolwork. Cellphones have much smaller screens and generally take more effort to use, so students are less likely to waste time on them reading blogs or playing games. It simply isn’t as satisfying to procrastoinate on a cellphone-- laptops are much more better for that. Plus, if you are writing a paper on your laptop, your web browser is just a couple of clicks away. If you are writing by hand with a cellphone next to you, is is a bit less easy to put down your pencil, pick up your phone, unlock it, and open a browser.

While I do not personally use cellphones while studying unless absolutely necessary. I think that they can be helpful for a lot of students. It is true that cellphones can be distracting, but they are less damaging to productivity than laptops, so I think it is hard to argue that students should not use them.