Although there are those who insist on resisting it, technology is a part of our lives for good. There is no escaping it. Our cars, houses, jobs and even friendships depend on it more than they ever have. It is our primary source of information and number one research tool, all that thanks to the internet.
As it usually happens to anything that rapidly develops and becomes essential, technology is vilified. It is accused of bringing harmful content into the houses of honest families, disrupting their children's behavior and upbringing. It is also accused by some of our older masters to be the assassin of education, since it makes students jobs a lot easier than they would be without it.
What those people may be failing to see and acknowledge is the fact that those harms do not originate nor depend solely on technology - or the internet, if we choose to be more specific. They have always been and will always be a part of life. Bad influences may be found - especially if one is looking for them intently - everywhere. Also, by attacking and forbidding the use of technology, parents and teachers are preventing an inevitable sort of growth.
As stated above, there is no escaping technology. Therefore, trying to prevent and control its use might not be beneficial to kids and teenagers since they will be working with technology or depending on it to do their jobs in the future. When it comes to the use of cellphones, teachers might initially think of it as a negative factor in classroom, but that is all up to how, when and why they allow it to be used. Cellphones may become an asset to the teaching-learning process when included as a powerful tool in order to enhance it. Real-time researching, challenges and posting can and should become a part of any attractive class. Not only will students be doing what they do best, but they will associate such task with knowledge and self-development.
It should be taken into consideration, however, that not every single lesson will allow for the use of cellphones such as exemplified above. What should be done then? Should cellphones be forbidden when they seem to have no use for teachers' purposes?
That idea may be tempting and sometimes put into practice. Why not reach an agreement with learners on a cellphone-free-lesson? Students themselves may find it cleansing and liberating in a way. But let's not fool ourselves, that will probably not work frequently. Since most of communication is done nowadays via smartphones, it would be the same as asking them not to utter a single word for hours.
Rules, nonetheless, may be applied. And students can help with their conception. Maybe a rule could state that students should not use their phones for an extended period of time or that they shouldn't distract fellow students from listening to what is being taught. Those may sound too simplistic, but appealing to empathy and self-awareness may be a good start. When students understand how their excessive use of a cellphone may be harmful to their own learning and to that of others, they are likely to tone it down a bit.
In conclusion, the solution is as simple as the saying goes: if you cannot beat them, join them. Since there is no beating technology and its omnipresence in our daily lives, the best option is to accept it for what it really is: a consequence of our own minds, the product of development, of new needs and times. If we can learn to adapt it - or ourselves to it - with the purpose of making it work for us, our knowledge and growth, technology will be the greatest and most faithful ally we can have.
