Cellphones and Attitude of NDEI Students: Input Towards Better

Cellphone Usage Policy

April Reigh Villanueva

Introduction

Cell phone has become a part of our every day lives, but that doesn't mean you

shouldn't put down your phone every once and a while. Adolescent cell (mobile) phone

ownership has become ubiquitous over the last few years. There are several reasons that

young people are more vulnerable than adults to environmental stressors [1], so concern

has grown internationally over their increasing levels of exposure to this radiation due to

possible adverse health effects. Using the Short Message Service (texting) is

adolescents’ preferred form of use [2]. Inevitably this has meant that a majority of students

take a cellphone to school, often into class, and use it there. However, there is very little

research on what regulatory approaches schools take towards cellphones being kept or

used by students during school, students’ responses to those rules, or health implications

of typical student use.

The impact that cell phones have made on high school and college students has

been both positive and negative. For example, the advancements of cell phones and

tablets have played a major role in the utilization of education in the classroom. In the

1990s, cell phones and tablets did not exist in the classroom, students had to rely solely

on computers that were usually placed in a computer lab, or in the library. This can be
considered a setback to the teacher and to the student because it requires students to

leave the classroom environment to use the internet for research.

Furthermore, students had to rely on reading material out of the library which

slowed down the research process for writing papers and/or thesis’. Now, here we are in

the twenty-first century and classrooms are filled with a large variety of laptops, cell

phones and tablets. With the availability to the internet being near limitless, but the

technology can be very distracting to the students. The student’s distraction, is thus

distracting to the teachers or professors and to the student’s fellow classmates. Over the

last 50 years modern advancements in technology have played a crucial role in the

development of education in both negative and positive aspects.

The effect of cell phones on college and high school students has been primarily

negative. Over the last 50 years modern advancements in technology have played a

crucial role in the development of education in both negative and positive aspects. The

two supporting sources have provided proof to how cell phones make available some

positive advantages to the student’s access to internet and therefore also access to faster

research opportunities. The third opposing source provided information to how useful cell

phones can be to students learning and the increase in the amount of work that gets done

when students are allowed to use their phones, but there are always students that do not

want to follow the teacher’s rules, and therefore mess it up for all of the other students.

Titled 2010 Young Asians Survey, the study examined the habits of youth across

Asia. Respondents ranged from 8 to 24 years old across 11 markets including the

Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, India,

Thailand and Vietnam.

Last year, a similar study by Synovate showed that young Filipinos liked using their mobile

phones to play games, listen to music, watch videos and surf the Internet.

This forecast shows the number of smartphone users in the Philippines from 2015

to 2016 with forecasts for 2017 to 2022. In 2017, the number of smartphone users in the

Philippines is estimated to reach 30.4 million. This would mean that around 32 percent of

the population in the Philippines would use a smartphone. This number is expected to

rise to 40 percent by the year 2021.

Mobile phones are considered a must-have among young Filipinos, with product

ownership in the country at 67%, according to a survey recently conducted by global

research agency Synovate.

Since the literature says more about cellphones, this study would like to determine

the attitude of NDEI students when it comes to cellphones usage.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to determine the cellphone usage and attitude of NDEI

students. Specifically, it seeks to answer the following:

1. To what extent do students use their cellphones,

2. To what extent of classroom behavior do students show,

3. To what extent do cellphones help the students in their academics,

4. The academic performance of NDEI students during the first quarter;

5. What are the observed students’ attitude by their

5.1 Teachers
 5.2 Administrators

5.3 Family

5.4 Friends

6. Based on findings, what cellphone policy should be formulated?

Conceptual Framework

Education Technology (also known as “EdTech”) refers to an area of technology

devoted to the development and application of tools (including software, hardware, and

processes) intended to promote education.

Educational technology, sometimes shortened to EduTech or EdTech, is a wide

field. Therefore, one can find many definitions, some of which are conflicting. Educational

technology as an academic field can be considered either as a design science or as a

collection of different research interests addressing fundamental issues of learning,

teaching and social organization. Educational technology as practice refers to any form

of teaching and learning that makes use of technology. Nevertheless, there are a few

features on which most researchers and practitioners might agree:

1. Use of technology is principled: Technology means the systematic application of

scientific knowledge to practical tasks. Therefore, educational technology is based

on theoretical knowledge drawn from different disciplines (communication,

education, psychology, sociology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, computer

science, etc.) plus experiential knowledge drawn from educational practice.

 2. Educational technology aims to improve education. Technology should facilitate

learning processes and increase performance of the educational system(s) as it

regards to effectiveness and/or efficiency.

Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to:

The Teachers

Teachers will be able to set the guidelines on cellphone usage that will affect the

learning process of students

The Administrators

The administrators will be able to experience lessen issues on cellphone

confiscations and cellphone-related offenses.

The Parents

The parents will benefit from this study because it will help their children focus

more on what is important. It will provide them opportunities to guide their children based

on the formulated cellphone policy.

The Students

Students will be able to achieve higher grades since usage of cellphones will be

officially regulated through the proposed cellphone-policy guidelines.

Scope and Limitation

The study is only limited to cellphone usage. It does not include other gadgets such

as game consoles, tablets, smart watches, etc. It also focuses on NDEI high school

students only and does not include the elementary department students.