so i found some really qayyy but colorful cell phone icons =] haha i was feelin 'artsy' && decided to decorate my bloq a little bit. but as a disclaimerrr...i hate my cell phoneee. l0l

I kind of go both ways. I think when you are texting or leave to answer your cell phone during class, is disrespectful to the teacher and your classmates. I find that it is just the same when students talk while the teacher is talking. It is just disrepectful and distracting to those who are learning. On the other hand I agree with Alie when she says "college is not high school." There is no rule in college that says we can't use our cell phones in class. Also I agree with Alie when she says that we are the ones paying these classes so we get to decide if we want to pay attention or not, or if we even want to attend class. When we talk about cell phones being distracting and disrepectful then we can say the same thing to lap tops. Lap tops should be in the same vote as cell phones. We are living in the time of technology. Cell phones and lap tops are popular and are used everywhere!

Sara Jane

Sara Jane make a very interesting connection between cell phones and laptops, here. Laptops and cell phones, both increasingly ubiquitous, are used for many of the same tasks these days. So, they do indeed fall into a common category. What might we name this category? At the same time, what are the essential differences between laptops and cell phones?

Of course, as I have been typing this response, my daughter Odessa has saddled up beside me, with her cell phone open, replaying a movie she filmed of a presentation given by Abu the Flutemaker, at the Visionary Art Museum--and it's making my day, I tell ya! And so, now I should put down my laptop....uh, what's that ringing sound, oh it's Odessa's cellphone....

ShareRiff

I believe it's just common courtesy, an unspoken rule of respect, to keep the cell phone out of sight during class. If it's an emergency, i'm sure the teacher will understand. Like today I think it was acceptable for Allie to excuse herself before answering her boyfriends call because of the certain circumstances. But most of the time it's just petty conversations that can afford to wait until the class is dismissed.

EMILYYYY

In this article, we hear ambivalence on this issue from a teacher: "I am a teacher, and I believe disruptive beeps and rings should be turned off and the phone set to vibrate mode during class. But in this great age of E-technology, I should be able to reach my son." Furthermore, we might add, all of our relationships are vital in these times, and cell phones, while not cheap, present themselves as readily-available commons-forming machines of extraordinary power. Sure, cell phones, like telephones before them, often times just interrupt meaningful face-to-face conversations and waste time. But in a post-Katrina context, we cannot ignore the necessity for distributed and informed commons-formation.

Another interesting measure of mobile phone culture on campuses can be found in "How smart mobs coped with a massacre," which directs our attention to Virginia Tech's collective response to the massacre that took place on their campus last year--basically this response was facilitated by cell phone technology.

ShareRiff

I do agree that Alie had a reason to answer the phone the call from her man in Iraq. That is something that I classify as a extenuating circumstance. By-in-large though I don't agree that the use of cell phones should be allowed. I equate getting up and running out of class, or any venue of the like, to answer a call to be completely and utterly disrespectful not just to the person giving a presentation but to those around you whom are focusing intensely. When you break a train of thought it is sometimes difficult to pick up exactly were you left off. The same goes for texting. If you are blatenly texting in front the presenter, thats the same as holding a telephone conversation. In essence its telling the person who put some thought and effort into the presentation that you don't care what there are trying to impart, there efforts frugal, and time wasted. All of which is extremely frustrating. Manners, which is at the core of what Emily stated as "common courtesy" is something children learn and (most) adults put into practise. To be perfectly honest, this is my second semester in college, and in all my classes in both semesters (not necessarily in this class) I feel not as if I am in college, but in an extended high school. I have not witnessed a whole lot of the mature practise of manners I spoke of before. The topic in last class was of blocked web sights and students essentially being treated like children in need of protecting against adult themes. Lets combine the topics shall we? Students being treated like children and students behaving like children. Here is good example of, "what came first? The chicken or the egg?"

-Ian

Ian crystalizes the crucial point about the staccato, interruptive, and usually irruptive effects of cell phones in the classroom. While it's one thing to manage one's own attention, it's another to maintain collective attention on a problem or issue. Although classroom discussions can and should at times take the form of an improvisational jazz ensemble, with cell phones, to say "random interruptions" is to say "noise." And although noise can beget rhythm (order out of chaos), rhythm requires more than just isolated connections, telephonic or otherwise. Rhythm also requires blockages of connections.

Because Ian's is also an adequate description of web parataxis, I can also begin to imagine cell phone interruptions as valuable and helpful to our task of leaning how to dwell in noisy information ecologies and how to compose persuasive arguments in such habitats. Working in dynamic spaces of ongoing movement (the web, and our collective attention in/on the web) requires a rhythmic approach to refining attention. Staying in rhythm and staying in tune with arguments and issues as they unfold in real time can only happen when we write together, reading and interrupting each others’ sentences/paragraphs/ideas and opening up more space for collective consideration of word selection, syntactical sequencing, overall arrangement, the content and tone of our examples, and all the rest. So, we should welcome wiki-interruptions, and not be so reticent to interrupt others' flow on the wiki. But a cell phone interruption creates mystery--only the recipient can hear and therefore analyze the content of the message. How shall we define the space of the university classroom in the 21st century? For a group to gather and focus collective attention, we seem to be saying, in chorus, we need to forestall phone connections, at least until we can come up with a better policy, as a group.

Splendid examples of definitional argumentation abound in our mix master blog. We're doing great! Some of these definitional statements turn on a distinction between high school and college. These are good examples of how definition is always slippery slide--distinguishing two terms also alerts us to their similarities. Indeed, the category of "high school" can expand just as easily as the category of "college" can contact, as Ian points out.

ShareRiff

I can understand when students use their cell phones in class why that would upset a teacher. It doesn't bother me if someone uses their phone but if I were a teacher I would probably be annoyed. Since I'm not, I don't care if people use their phones but if I were to put myself in the profesor or who ever is instructing the class shoes I can see how he or she might be upset. I noticed almost all teachers feel disrespected if they were giving a lesson and someone was text messaging or talking on their phone. So I think that they should be allowed because people are going to bring them anyway if they want.

dontae

Dontae, like many teachers seeking to harness the communicative power of mobile phones, has accepted the fact that they are here, now, and there's no turning back the clock. If we accept this premise, or background belief, and work with it, we can perhaps open our minds to creative uses for cell phones. We might find unexpected solutions to other problems. Please see the law of consequence

I honestly understand the idea that once you get to college you believe you are allotted certain freedoms as a student of higher education, such as being able to plan your study habits around your time and being able to stay up as late as you want. However I do not believe that simply because you are in college you should be allow to out and out disrespect the teacher. Yes you are paying for the education and it is your job to learn, but it is not also your job to hinder the teachers ability to teach by being disruptive in class and texting on your cell in plain sight. Now I have been known to be guilty of the incident that i just described but only out of pure need, to attend to matters that needed to be taken care of that very second. Also while doing so i try to make sure that my actions are not to a point where i am distracting others. The academic world is nothing more than a field that we are given an opportunity to run through and have a good time, but are not forced to. If we continue to disrespect this field it will turn into nothing more than a barren valley with walls that are exactly the same (as i stated in the video on my wiki deeroo ). So lets stop this desecration of our field of knowledge and instead help it to grow it into the forrest it has the potential to become. This way the world can continue to gain knowledge long after we are gone and we will know that we helped.

DEEROO

I enjoy Drew's ecological metaphor for the university context--his contrasting images of fertile valleys and barren fields capture the essence of what Vic, Sara, Ksaun, and most of us have said in one way or another about balancing individual rights and community needs. Here, I hear echoes of the American Indian seven generation principle of sustainability, a sane and welcome apprehension of our Mother Earth. Long ago, when biologist Garrett Hardin wrote of the tragedy of the commons this was his concern--that a shared resource (such as face time with peers and professors) could only be overrun, and used up by lawless behavior. But I believe that if we take a sustainable approach to a commons space--which would require giving back to the land, not just taking what I need--a commons can continue to thrive.

ShareRiff

I just think sitting with your phone out texting, playing games, and other distracting activities is just rude. In fact, I have a teacher that if you bring out your cell for more than a second to check the time, she will still take it away and give it to you after class. I feel that if your cellphone needs to ring, you should let your professor know a head of time. Like, before my Grandmother passed away, I let all of my teachers know at my high school that I had to leave my cellphone on the ringer in case my grandmother went into the hospital again. You know what happened? Four times I had it ring. My mom would do it as a heads up that I needed to head over to the hospital.

There are valid reasons to having a cellphone in class and not. I'd say turn that sucker on silent and pay attention in class. Because I'm sure your plans for after class can still be made - After class.

Ksaun

I agree with a lot of what has already been said, but I think it comes down to the degree of the usage itself. I know for one, a lot of people don't wear watches and it's pretty practical to flip your cell phone out during class to check the time. At this point, I see no wrong doing. Now when it comes to the point where the person is texting, playing games, heaven forbid talking on it during class it becomes a real problem. Like Sara said, it is very true that we pay for these classes but on the other side of that argument it is not your right to forbid others from learning. Yes, you do pay for it but your other class mates do as well. If the situation arises and you really find the need to answer or reply to texts I think you should take it up the same way you would excuse yourself from any other situation. I would much rather have someone quietly remove themselves from the room and go out into the hallway, then have the professor confront them about it. By allowing that confrontation to happen it only adds more disruption.

victorious maximus

I didn't really get a chance to read all of the things posted so i can't quite reflect on what others have said. My opinion though is that cell phones should be allowed in university classrooms under very strict conditions. They should only be on with like vibrate or a very, very low ring tone for emergency situations only in class. Because not only is it an interruption to the professor who is trying to teach a subject but an interruption to the 20 other people there who PAY to learn in this class. Don't really want to sound like a nerd but thats how i feel sometimes when people are being belligerent and are texting while the professor is talking. Otherwise, cell phones shouldn't be allowed in classrooms

TigerPanda

I am with sara on this one, I am torn between both sides of the argument. On one side I believe that we are college students and we are considered adults. To say that we are not able to use our cell phones is ridiculous, its like highschool all over again. What are thy going to do next spank us is we talk out of line? On the other hand I do believe there are certain levels of respect a person should have for the teacher and fellow class mates. It is rude to leave a phone on loud when others are trying to concentrate. I believe that students should atleast put the phone on vibrate and if a call should come through to quitely excuse themselves from the classroom. That way there is no interuption in the classroom and the student may talk on the phone outside.

TinoMontanez

One premise, or background belief, operating underneath our mix master blog is this: we all seem to agree that a degree of mutual respect is necessary in a university classroom. I would like to link this premise to the practice of editing each others' sentences. I would like to suggest that creating interruptions on the wiki, in order to correct spelling and grammatical errors, is in fact a true sign of respect. Why? Because even the act of simply tuning our our attention towards others is a sign of respect. Let's try this: let's remix this essay together, paying attention to and revising sentences wherever we see fit.

ShareRiff

MixMasterBlogCellPhoneRemix

American Idol Controversy

MarchSix

word count as of March 6, 1:45 pm: 2,601

Holy shit, this got interesting. l0l

Okayyyyy, so here's my take on the whole cell phone issue. If the school banned cell phones, would it not be just as wrong as blocking certain websites?? As an "adult", paying for our education, we have the rights to certain things. I believe cell phones should definitely be one of them. First websites, then cell phones start getting banned...Where are we, back in high school? If the student decides to take a phone call or answer a text, that is their perogative, and as I said before, cell phones are equally, if not less distracting than food. So if cell phones are being debated upon, why don't we discuss food in the classrooms as well. What about whispering between students? That's distracting.

In a classroom setting, especially in one as small as what we have in comp I, it is hard NOT to get distracted, regaurdless of whether or not cell phones are permitted. I believe, however, if we take away every distraction in the classroom, that the comp I class will be on the same level as an English III classroom. So yes, cell phones are distracting, but so is food, and talking, and laptops, and the clock right above the dry erase board, and anything else a student can find to keep their attention. So, i reccommend everybody just start taking adderall, && then maybe we won't have so many distractions =] that is all ♥

on a side note...hows everyone's sprinq break qoinq???

allie

Spring break is....spring breakin!! I've been working the whole time, mostly, but I plan to correct this situation. The beach is hailing me, I can almost hear the surf. Allie makes an excellent connection, here. Indeed, cell phones can be used to browse the web, and so could be put into a definitional category with laptops. The most pressing issue right now very well may be the new block USF has placed on certain web categories. Relevant issues may also include: academic freedom, cognitive liberty. I think Allie may have cued our next mix master blog. Now, all we need to do is come up with an exercise for class on Tuesday, something that will have us break into small groups, perhaps, yes?

ShareRiff