Do Smartphones Make Us Smarter?
Should teachers allow cellphones in a classroom? Teachers worry that phones distract students during class, but phones can also be a research tool. The question is not just whether or not smartphones are useful in class. It’s also about negotiating a shift in education, where students use technology to participate in their own learning. Then again, even if phones can be used for assignments, students can be easily tempted into answering texts or checking social media instead.
A recent study on the way smartphones interfere with learning might help shed some light on the issue. In April 2017, researchers published findings showing how students were affected by their phones in the classroom. They explored the differences in student performance in four cases: open phone use allowed, phones allowed in the room but could not be used, no phones in the classroom and a non-instruction control group. After watching a 20-minute video, students took a short quiz. The result? Students in a room without any cellphones performed significantly better on the test. Scientists believe the way we attach ourselves to our phones could be the problem.
Have our phones controlled our minds?
It feels as if smartphones have been around forever. But the first iPhone only came out in 2007, just eleven years ago. In these eleven short years, phones have become a major part of our lives. They have become so entrenched (根深蒂固的) in society that many people are lost without them.
Technology developers such as Google would like us to use smartphones in all parts of daily lives. Through the ready access of information, the goal is to enlarge human intelligence. With mobile devices, we can use digital assistants like Siri to answer questions without even typing a word.
We are now in an age when many people can’t imagine life without a phone. There is even a name for the anxiety caused by not having one -nomophobia. This is the powerful feeling people get when they don’t have signal, their battery is about to die, or they are separated from their phone. This fear of missing out on important information or connections can have a controlling effect on our lives. And it can divide our attention from other important things, such as learning.
43. Why do teachers worry about smartphones’ distracting students during class according to the passage?
A.Because smartphones can be used as a research tool. |
B.Because students can use smartphones to discuss. |
C.Because students can’t help doing something else in class. |
D.Because smartphones can do assignments for students. |
44. What does the phrase "shed some light on" in Para 2 most probably mean?
A.discover accidentally | B.describe correctly |
C.develop gradually | D.explain clearly |
45. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Smartphones have already become a part of our life. |
B.Smartphones have already controlled our minds. |
C.Typewriters will disappear due to smartphones. |
D.People will become smarter thanks to smartphones. |
46. What can be inferred from the passage?
A.People can’t live normally without a phone nowadays. |
B.Some diseases are actually connected with a phone. |
C.A phone will control our life completely some day. |
D.A phone is greatly distracting our attention from learning. |