Students increasingly support banning laptops from classrooms. Multifunction screens fragment attention and block learning.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/3/barnum-harvard-ban-laptops/

152 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world

12 Comments

Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 30 pts · 184d

Yea, I took notes with pen and paper. You can pry my laptop from my cold dead hands.

brachiosaurus@mander.xyz · 24 pts · 184d

Sounds like the problem is too many students packed in a room

Mk23simp@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 22 pts · 184d (3 replies)

Counterpoint: If a student doesn't learn to cope with the distraction of having a laptop, they won't be prepared for work environments they'll be dumped into after school.

Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 184d (2 replies)

yes they will. Humans are incredible at adapting.

A person learns better with pencil paper and textbooks. The younger the student is, the more this is true.

BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 184d

It's astonishing that you wrote the counter to your own argument within your argument.

Wataba@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 184d

Source: whatever?

unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth · 17 pts · 184d

Honestly, I had a laptop/convertible tablet throughout my studies, and I definitely would not have wanted to be without it. I could draw directly onto the slides, type if necessary (I can type faster than I can write), and I always knew that if I had that thing along, I had everything I needed - no worrying about which binders to bring along and no breaking my back with heavy backpacks.

And when I did get distracted, it usually wasn't from my computer, but from my phone. Which wasn't always bad, sometimes it was good to keep myself awake - I'd rather be semi distracted but still semi paying attention than fallen asleep.

MisterMKE@midwest.social · 7 pts · 184d (2 replies)

So tired of people playing games on their laptops in my college courses. I think their should be exceptions for accessibility, but I think 90% of the time its better off for everyone to just use a binder

Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 184d

Ah yes, because everyone is like you.

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 184d

or using social media.

HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 184d

As someone who was too deaf to hear one professor even when sitting in the front row bc of the acoustics in that room, if there had been a way to read the lecture I would have taken it. That can be done with a printed copy tho, no need for a laptop

twinnie@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 184d

If I’d had a laptop in my classroom there’s no way I’d be paying attention to the lecturer.