The modern classroom looks different than it did fifteen years ago. For one, there’s a lot more blue light. According to Purdue University, 83% of university students own a personal computer, versus 1 in 5 back in 2009. Secondly, there’s been a lot of changes to how society uses that technology. With increasing phone usage and the rise of AI, educators have had to make changes to the way they hold their classes in order to adapt to the new world.
This different classroom has garnered a lot of attention recently, including the Utah Legislature banning all mobile devices in public schools, grades K-12. While the policy does not affect the University of Utah directly, technological changes have made it all the way up to the U.
Professors and technology
A handful of professors at the university have limited what technology can be used and how it can be used in the classroom, while others have outright banned it while teaching. These changes, some of which are very new, aim to prevent distractions and keep students on task. In some classes, the penalty for breaking these policies is a lower grade.
University of Utah Communications Professor Eric Peterson doesn’t allow students to use any technology until after he has finished teaching. “I actually feel kind of like students are relieved. In fact, I feel like our devices are so distracting, kind of forcing them to set them aside for most of the class, I found the students actually seem to be more relaxed and less distracted,” Peterson said. “And able to engage with the material a lot better.”
According to Peterson, his technology ban is an attempt to limit how much time students spend online so that they may better focus in the classroom. “I think it’s a huge problem,” Peterson said. “Probably the biggest problem college students have right now is actually being in the present moment and listening to what’s happening and also dealing with the fact that they have to use this technology, especially in journalism, but more importantly, they’ve got to know how to think and focus.”
This also comes amid a reported loss of critical thinking due to the rise of AI. According to a study run by MIT in 2024, people who consistently use AI “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic and behavioral levels.”
Peterson believes that, coupled with the addictive and pervasive nature of social media, our society faces a monumental danger. “I think [phones are] our generation’s cigarette,” Peterson said. “The challenge is that our cigarettes now are not just a diversion, though they primarily are, it’s that they also have tools and things that we actually need to use. So, we actually need to use our cigarettes. So, we need to figure out how to control that and not let it take over our lives.”
Student experience
In some classes, like Peterson’s, students are more focused without technology. In others, this isn’t the case. Freshman Shiloh Wood said her Introduction to Business Economics class is quite noisy. “People are really talkative in that class,” Wood said.
According to Wood, the noise distracts other students in the class who are trying to focus on the lecture and prevents the course from proceeding as quickly as it should.
“It’s an issue that [Professor Rebekah Shrader] addressed too, just saying that we’re incredibly talkative, and that makes it harder to get through course content,” Wood said.
Shrader only allows students to use laptops in that class if they inform her beforehand and sit in the first two rows.
Wood doesn’t see this problem in her other classes, which do permit laptops during the lecture, despite having many of the same classmates.
While education is still looking for that middle ground between focus and the future, Peterson simply recommends taking a step back.
“Put your devices down,” Peterson said. “Listen to what’s coming in, you know, read a book instead of your phone. Take notes and actually be there, actually show up. Not just physically, but with your mind.”
