WYOMING NEWS SERVICE – College students spend more class time than ever playing with their smartphones and other digital devices, according to a new University of Nebraska report. 
The study found on average students check their phones during class more than 11 times a day. The study surveyed 675 students in 26 states.
Barney McCoy, the report’s lead author and associate professor of broadcasting and journalism, says students aren’t just glancing down to see if someone is trying to reach them.
“They basically say about 20, 21 percent of their time is spent either text messaging or checking social media, those kinds of things that really take them away from the discussion or the activities that are taking place in the classroom,” says McCoy. “That really adds up.”
McCoy says for a typical four-year education, the average student may be distracted for two-thirds of a school year. He says students admit to the downsides of looking at their phones instead of their professors, missing out on lessons, lower grades, and being called out for not paying attention. But he says most students say they can’t or won’t change their behavior.
Students cited boredom as the top reason they turn to their phones during class, and more than one in four said they had the right to use devices whenever they wanted. McCoy says part of the responsibility falls on professors to use new technology to engage students, by challenging them to Google a topic in real time, for example, which can add to the learning experience. But he says the findings suggest students and professors could both benefit by establishing ground rules.
“We need to have conversations that build those expectations in and try and build a consensus about why we’re in a classroom to begin with,” says McCoy. “And that’s hopefully to effectively learn, and if you’re a professor, to effectively teach.”
McCoy first surveyed students in 2013, and two years later the use of digital devices during class time has increased slightly. In 2015, the number of students who said they never use devices for non-classroom purposes dropped to three percent, compared with eight percent in 2013.