Critical Reading 2

Summary:

Cell phone use is everywhere. On dates, during meetings, and more currently in classrooms.
Teachers and professors has started to integrate cell phone use as part of their lessons, but is
this causing more distractions to learning than it is helping? With the increasing number of
notifications and usage of social media, it can be very difficult to concentrate on the assignment
or task at hand due to the urge to check through them. Cell phone use, particularly smartphone
use, has become an addiction to many people. Some people think they can efficiently multitask
while using their cell phones, but psychologists have concluded that it is impossible to multitask.
Rather, people will switch between tasks at a rapid rate, often causing poor quality in each task.
Since smartphones are a part of modern-day life, instead of banning them, students can be
taught how to cope with their distractions in and out of the classroom. Goodwin suggests
learning in short 15-minute intervals followed by a brief technology break so students can truly
devote their undivided attention to the lesson. He also suggests students take notes by hand
because it promotes active listening, leading to more comprehension and engagement in the
lesson. Students do have other interruptions such as loud noise, white noise, people around
them, misplaced items, room temperature, and light, but cell phones are a modern-day
technology that people feel they cannot live without.

Rhetorical Analysis:

This article was written in 2015 by Bryan Goodwin and published in Volume 72 of Education
Leadership, which focuses on Teaching with Mobile Tech with articles about the various
viewpoints of technology usage in conjunction with school work. The purpose of this article was
to convince people in the education system that cell phone and technology usage in classrooms
has negative effects on the way students concentrate and learn. The intended audience of this
article is anyone in the education system (students, teachers, professors) that uses modern-day
technology like smartphones. Goodwin is credible because he pulled from a variety of sources
to argue why cell phone and technology use in classrooms can be detrimental to student
performance. By bringing these sources together in one article on Educational Leadership, he is
able to persuade the audience against technology use during lessons while maintaining an
objective stance. This article, as it is shown online, uses both linguistic and spatial modes to
help support the authors claim. After a brief introduction, the article is divided into headings that
address each of the topics Goodwin discusses (statistics on technology usage in correlation to
classroom performance, the question of technology usage in classrooms, what multitasking
really is not, how to accept technology in society in relation to school). There are also bullet
points under the first heading to further explain each statistic. Formatting helps the reader
effectively read an article, and by also making the article short and to-the-point, Goodwin is able
to ensure that the audience understands his claims.
Citation:

Goodwin, Bryan. "Mobile Devices: Driving Us to Distraction?." Educational Leadership 72, no. 8
(May 1, 2015): 75-76. ERIC, EBSCOhost (accessed March 29, 2017).

Shortened Summary:

Teachers and professors has started to integrate cell phone use as part of their lessons, but is
this causing more distractions to learning than it is helping? Cell phone use, particularly
smartphone use, has become an addiction and concentration barrier to many students. Some
think they can efficiently multitask while using their cell phones, but psychologists have
concluded that it is impossible to multitask. Since smartphones are a part of modern-day life,
instead of banning them, Goodwin suggests coping with their distractions by learning in short
15-minute intervals followed by a brief technology break so students can truly devote their
undivided attention to the lesson.