Chromebooks or Cellphones: Which Are the Bigger Classroom Distraction?

assorted-color phone lot

The vast majority of school districts in the United States now provide school-issued laptops and tablets to students. But many educators now say the devices have become major classroom distractions.

Classroom learning devices—such as Chromebooks and iPads—have become a major source of distraction, cutting into instructional time, a recent EdWeek Research Center survey shows.

“Giving some students a device is like asking an alcoholic to hold a drink—it’s just too tempting,” said a high school teacher from Minnesota in the open-response section of the survey.

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