Nowadays, with technological advancement, mobile devices have brought the whole world at everyone’s fingertips. As it offers multiple advantages, the use of smartphones is growing, especially among the youth and students. However, with the excessive use of mobile phones, students face harmful consequences too. According to research, around 36.7% of students check their mobile phones in between sleep. Nearly 59.7% of students use phones for photo shooting, 58.2% of students use a mobile device for entertainment and 43.8% use phones for educational purposes. Depending on the type of use, students experience both positive and negative impacts of mobile phones. Now let’s have a detailed discussion on the impact of mobile phone on students’ life. Here we will discuss both positive and negative effects of mobile phones on students.
Negative Effects of Mobile Phones on Students
Below are the 6 most common damaging effects that most students face these days due to excessive use of mobile phones:
1. Eye Strain
Mobile phones emit blue light, and thus using mobile phones constantly affects vision. Students are already required to study their books, which causes enough statin on their eyes. In addition, if they use mobile devices for a long time, even in between sleep, they may feel different eye problems, such as burning sensation, redness, dry eye, irritation, blurry vision, and poor eyesight. Report says, constant usage of smartphones may cause fatigue of eyes, named asthenopia, which indirectly impact students’ learning and academic performance.
2. Disturbance in Sleep Cycle
The blue ray emitted from the smartphone screen prevents the production of melatonin hormone, which controls the sleep-wake cycle of the body. As a result, a person using mobile phones before bedtime or in between sleep face disturbed sleep. In fact, according to a study, using mobile phones 30 minutes before bedtime after lights are off or keeping the device near the pillow affects sleep quality. Students already need to spend a good amount of a day in school or college attending classes. After coming home, they need to spend time doing homework as well. Furthermore, if they start spending their valuable time on smartphones, eventually, their sleep will be sacrificed.
3. Anxiety
Constant app alerts, doomscrolling through social media and playing games on smartphones can seriously affect the mental and emotional health of students. They already have to study a lot and stay focused to complete assignments. In addition to that, using mobile devices constantly keeps them in a state of alertness that can eventually be mentally exhausting. Moreover, the blue light emitted from the mobile screen causes headache, which may lead to stress, anxiety, and in the end, depression.
4. Reduction in Social Skills
Constant use of mobile phones limits the face-to-face interactions with people around and therefore makes the students struggle to be social. They become so engaged in a virtual world, almost forget how to interact with neighbors, friends, and family members naturally. They lack focus, lose patience, and become unable to listen to others and communicate properly in a face-to-face interaction.
5. Wrong Educational Content
The vast world of the internet and social media helps students empower themselves in various ways. However, simultaneously, in this vast world, children can faced digital risk while online learning or they have access to inappropriate content that can harm their brain and even lead to cyberbullying. The unmatured brains of many students get diverted to the wrong educational content. They feel fascinated after observing something new without realizing how it can harm them. This can grow an addiction, cause social disturbance and bring a downfall in their behavior, mental health, and academic performance.
6. Poor Academic Performance
For all the above-discussed reasons, students struggle to focus on their studies. And when they cannot concentrate, it affects their grades. While studying or in between breaks, if the students constantly use mobile phones, their attention gets divided. They get distracted and it affects their learning.
Now you know the negative effects of mobile phones on students. However, mobile phones influence students positively too.
Positive Effects of Mobile Phones on Students
Let’s have a look at the positive impact of smartphones on students:
1. Instant Communication
Mobile phones let students instantly communicate with their teachers and classmates for any academic help whenever needed. They can ask for any important information and get an immediate response over text or a phone call. Besides usual phone calls and texts, smartphones come with multiple apps that help in communication and interaction. In short, mobile phones help students in their social and academic life.
2. Help Students Adapt Modern Society
This is an undeniable fact that we are living in a modern society that incorporates advanced technologies to help everyone live a better life. With mobile phones, students can learn to adapt to this modern society. Mobile devices show students the best and quickest ways to reach a solution to any problem. The right use of smartphones boosts their creative skills and helps them come up with fascinating, innovative ideas. Nowadays mobile devices are being utilized in almost every profession. Thus regular use of mobile phones helps students be familiar with modern technology that would guide them in their future careers.
3. Instant Access to Knowledge
Students can easily check any information they need for any of their assignments or subjects on their phones. They can even download any educational apps for academic help. Furthermore, they can search about anything regarding their studies on Google and get instant access to knowledge. While doing an assignment, if they feel stuck with anything, clarifying the confusion can be done instantly on their phone. This way, they can gather more knowledge about a particular subject and as a result, improve their academic performance.
Final thoughts,
It is evident that there are both positive and negative effects of mobile phones on students. Using it right, a mobile phone can help students get academic success. But constant and improper use of mobile phones damages students’ mental and physical health. Therefore, parents and teachers should be extra cautious and limit the usage of mobile phones. Parents can set up parental controls on their children’s phones to restrict their usage of phones. Spend time with them when they are not studying to keep them away from wasting time on mobile phones. Encourage them to understand the right use of a smartphone and how this device can help them lead a better life. Help them stay focused. They will thank you later.
