With the integration of school laptops, ipads and social media, students may argue that schools are wasting their time or just creating various distractive hurdles. Studies show that students and kids check their phone more than 11 times a day during and after school, according to a survey given to 675 students in 26 states. On the other hand, others say that the use of the internet is necessary for everyday things, and browsing for more information is one of the better ways to do something in an educational environment. Computers grant access to the internet, which hosts academic research and offers educational support.

OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is a program for kids in developing countries which helps boost school’s academic and educational levels. This boosts the academic and educational programs in schools by letting kids actually learn from surfing the web. If it could happen to those countries why not ours? Many students need the basic knowledge to know what to search and how to use it to best educate themselves.

Holt High’s policy of school laptops and internet required assignments lacks the guidance necessary to let kids know what they should actually be doing and can make it easier for students to get distracted.  Students use the internet for a variety of reasons.

“I use it to study and look up answers; in my down time I like to do my own thing,” said Aaron Borden (‘18).

The main question at hand remains. Are laptops  more or less distracting than any type of normal paper assignment?  Paper assignments are not totally obsolete but students almost almost expect their next piece of homework to be on or rely on the computer the school provided.

Some students find it hard while on a computer, they find that their concentration is broken and difficult to stay focused on homework; it is very easy to click on to another site. “I am more  distracted working on the computer because it is so easy to just click a new tab,” said Aidan McCarthy (‘20).

With so many computers going into circulation, server and connection issues are sure to arise. Many students think that school work should not rely on the internet of the school.

One of the concerns for many students is that the internet might go down and then they will have a large workload to do at home all because it did not work while class was is in session.  “Our internet stinks and can be down for most of the day,” said Koleen Field (‘20).

Most students claim to be addicted to their phone but then complain that they need teachers to help stop the issue, but could the solution be part of the problem?