[bowens]

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Before cellphones, kids had other distractions, like pot, drawing pictures of the gym teacher with a [censored] in his ear, and even good old fashioned daydreaming.

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This is a pretty good point. The only difference being that phones ringing / incoming text messages buzzing / people answering their phones is a lot more distracting to the REST of the classroom than idle daydreaming and picture drawing. Personally I could care less what the cell phone owner him/herself does, because they'll find other ways to mess around in class and generally be a nuisance. It is the other kids in the class actually trying to learn that I'd be concerned for.

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See kids who consistently get text messages or even phone calls in class leave their phones on silent or vibrate. If you aren't sitting directly beside the person YOU'D NEVER KNOW THEIR PHONE RANG! It's really that simple. I know people who never have to look at their phones to type out a text message. They can sit and look at the teacher the entire time and a good percentage of the time the teacher cannot tell they have their phone out. Cells phones do not distract others in the class unless you are sitting directly beside them, and in all of my classes we can choose where we sit. If someone distracts you by texting in class then you just don't sit beside them.

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I hate this thread now.

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