Snyder: Distracted by devices

As I start my second semester of college as a freshman, I’ve come to realize how much technology impacts the way I focus on homework, essays and projects. Lately I have found that there is always a device sitting right next to me while I’m working, whispering its wonders into my ears to pick it up and see what’s going on in the world.

At the time, in high school it was easy to be away from technology in a classroom. In my high school as soon as a teacher saw you with an electronic device you didn’t get it back for the week. Here, in college, it’s become second nature to carry a laptop or tablet to class with you to take notes and look up information. While I have become one of the many students taking in the technological advances with open arms, I’ve found out that it’s not as easy to focus as it used to be.

A simple essay I once could complete in an hour or two now takes a whole day between the endless scrolling of Facebook and Tumblr. Reading a chapter for psychology is nearly impossible without the constant nagging to put away my cell phone and pay attention to the book. Technology is getting easier to carry with you, and more and more addictive as I progress into college.

I have no one but myself to truly manage my time and to tell me it’s time to do homework. I can tell from last semester that I’m honestly getting better at negotiating with the slacker in me, but it needs to be better. I think that all college students are constant negotiating with the slacker; to go or not to go to class … that is the question. Each day I witness a number of students winding down the days until they can just continuously sleep and scroll through their feeds and dashes to their heart’s content.

I witnessed just how much college students are connected to their phones and devices. When I was in class last semester, someone’s phone rang. Half of my class bent down to check and see if it was their phone, in the middle of the professor’s lecture. What could that text be? What is that text going to tell us, that it’s going to get us an ‘A’ on our exams? Was it going to suddenly give you the link to download the entire information this professor can offer to us into our mind? More importantly, are we really wasting money to go to class only to scroll through Facebook and listen to music with ear buds the whole time? It’s insane how deep we become engrained with our devices and how hard it is to let them go just for a few hours.

I realize that with technology I have achieved far greater things than I could without; for instance, I write all my essays, papers, novels and other ideas on a computer. I manage what time I do keep track of on an iPad. I use eBooks for classes to save money, and I’m learning that there are apps that can help me keep off social networks while buckling down for schoolwork. Living in a technological world is only going to get more and easier to slack off, but on the other hand it really is making a student’s life easier.

Faith Snyder is a first-year majoring in English.