Seriously, when I saw this prompt, I immediately had a flashback to when we were still in school.
There were phones back then, but things were very different from what we have today. There was no WhatsApp group where lecturers could drop announcements or class representatives could quickly send information to everyone. Most information was simply pasted on the information board.
So, if you wanted to stay updated, you had to make sure you checked the board when you got to school and, sometimes, checked it again before going home. Missing an announcement could put you in a very uncomfortable situation.
I remember one particular day very well.
Our exam venue had been changed, but unfortunately, the information was pasted on the notice board after everyone had already gone home. I had no idea about the change.
The next morning, I came to school as usual and went straight to the venue that had originally been announced. When I got there, I saw people already writing their papers.
I checked the time and realized that we were already about thirty minutes into the exam.
I was completely confused.
I looked around and wondered what was going on. Why were these people already writing? Was I in the wrong place? Had I somehow gotten the time wrong?
As I moved closer to the hall, I noticed that none of the faces I was seeing were familiar. That was when I knew something was definitely wrong.
I quickly rushed back to the department to check the information board.
And there it was.
The exam venue had been changed.
At that point, I could only imagine what was going through my mind. If we had WhatsApp groups back then, someone would probably have sent the information immediately, and I would not have gone to the wrong venue in the first place.
That experience made me think about how different school would be if phones never existed.
For one thing, students would probably be more dependent on physical information. Notice boards, teachers, classmates, textbooks and libraries would become even more important. You could not simply send a message to someone and ask, “Please, what did the lecturer say?” You would have to find out for yourself.
In some ways, I think that could make students more responsible. You would have to pay attention and make an effort to stay informed. If there was an announcement, you could not assume someone would forward it to you later.
At the same time, I don't think everything would be better without phones.
Phones have made communication much easier. If an exam venue changes today, the information can reach hundreds of students within minutes. A lecturer can send an announcement to the class group, and students can ask questions without having to wait until the next day.
Phones can also be useful for learning. Students can quickly look up information, use dictionaries, watch educational videos, join online classes and communicate with their classmates about assignments.
But there is another side to it.
Phones can also make it harder to concentrate. Instead of listening to a lecturer, a student might be checking WhatsApp, scrolling through social media or watching videos. Sometimes you pick up your phone to do one thing and somehow end up spending twenty minutes doing something completely different.
I also think students would probably interact more with each other if phones did not exist. During breaks, instead of everyone looking at their screens, people would have to talk, play games, tell jokes or simply sit together and gist.
Looking back, school without smartphones probably had more inconvenience, but it also forced us to be more present. We had to look for information, talk to people and sometimes deal with the consequences when we missed an announcement.
My experience with the changed exam venue is a good example. Today, something like that would probably be handled with a quick message in a class group. Back then, missing the information meant physically going to check the notice board.
So, would I want phones to disappear completely? Honestly, no.
I enjoy the convenience they give us too much. But I do think there is something we can learn from the way things used to be.
Maybe the problem isn't really that we have phones. The problem is that sometimes we allow our phones to take up too much of our attention.
Phones can help us learn, communicate and stay informed, but there are moments when it is better to put them down and actually pay attention to what is happening around us.
And if nothing else, the thought that the students no longer have to run across campus because I discovered an exam venue had been changed thirty minutes after the exam started is enough to appreciate the presence of the phone.
Thanks for checking on my blog and have a wonderful day
Posted Using INLEO
