Africa seems to be competing for her fair share of recognition especially in sales and use of smartphones with the older market players such as USA, Europe, and Asia. With incentives that continue to attract patronage being rolled out daily more people will likely continue to buy smartphones.
That is to say that more children of school age will continue to have access to smartphones. The impact of the presence of these smartphones however on the teeming population of youths and adults in Africa is disastrous when not used properly. How different is the experience of Africa from that of Europe, Asia or America?
Technically, the arrival of phones and in progression smartphones opened up a new window of endless possibilities to the African continent. Providing easy access to job opportunities, a chance to see life outside of the viewpoint of Africans without actually traveling out of the shores of Africa are probably some of the reasons many plunged into the smartphone frenzy. Other reasons include the access is granted for correspondence, as a tool of business, networking among many other valid reasons for purchasing a smartphone.
These notwithstanding, one can see the devastating side effects of smartphones on people not only in Africa but around the globe. Children, youths, and adults have replaced solid family relationships where interpersonal communication, collaboration, and team spirit with texts, chats, posts, tweets and the likes from social media accounts which demands that they stay glued to their smartphones. With this attitude, the need for communication and creative interaction is destroyed.
This has led to a rise in domestic and road accidents which occur every day leaving a trail of pain.
We should ponder the many side effects of smartphone addiction in and around the school and the workplace. Reduced productivity is one of the many side effects.
While smartphones could serve as an effective tool for access to applications which could the beneficial, an overdependence on these gadgets ends up eroding the culture of creativity born out of a mind that is positively at work.
The temptation to post content like pictures and personal posts has led to a society where things which were once considered private are now posted for public view. Videos and pictures of people are now taken without their knowledge and consent and shared online. How sure are we that with the present craze for online recognition, our children and youths will not be led into thinking that “no information is private”, a thought pattern which encourages sharing information without inhibitions whatsoever.
The problem for schools is even more threatening to learning and discipline. Teachers now have to deal with students who have eyes glued to their cell phone instead of participating in classroom activities. Both teachers and student have been guilty of using the time allotted to study and work purpose to post, share or watch content online. Prominent among the many drawbacks are
- Students do not get value for tuition fees paid.
- There is less collaboration between teachers and students
- The rise in truancy and deviance
- Obvious lack of interest in education.
A possible way out of smartphone addiction in school
There are simple ways to end smartphone addiction in school. In the last couple of years, some schools in the USA now use special pouches to lock up the smartphones of students on arrival to school. This is to enforce better participation in school activities.
The smartphones are locked away at the start of the school day at special lock unlock areas designated by the school. This procedure has been reported to have the following results
- The school became noisier as students had no option but to communicate with one another
- Over 80% of disciplinary complaints from teachers stopped coming in
- Class performance increased on the average
- Academic achievement also increased
- More students participated in games and other activities
For staff, a “No Smartphone Use” in the class would greatly increase productivity and reduce the number of minutes wasted on conversations which do not add to the learning of students.
How well this kind of approach will work is yet to be seen in so many counties of Africa where these pouches are not available. Yet there is a need to apply the lessons learned from those who have proven results to show.
As such schools should endeavour to provide spots where every student should drop their cell phones after registering such before proceeding for classes so they can actively participate in the learning process and develop strong and lasting relationships. This would promote a class culture of collaboration, teamwork and active involvement.
When this is established, children are well on their way to greater heights built on the premise of ingenuity and creativity, not the laid back passive, screen stuck lifestyle of a smartphone addict.
Participation in school activities like sports, clubs, and forums should be promoted with supervision by teachers to ensure that social media pages are not created without permission, and that information and newsletters do not end up on public forums.
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