Dear Person Scrolling During Class,
I want to pick up your cell phone and hurl it with all of my strength at a wall so it will break. You will no longer have the option to be the epitome of a seemingly rude, selfish person that chooses to openly try and get Snapchat filters to work. Meanwhile, your professor is trying to teach important lessons you are paying to be taught. “It’s my choice,” you say, “I don’t have to pay attention if I don’t want to; this isn’t high school anymore.”
You are right. You are so incredibly right—it’s not high school. It’s college: an institution of higher learning, where you will hopefully end up receiving a degree after completing the courses necessary to do so. Unfortunately, there is no class in texting, Facebooking, Tweeting, or Snapchatting. These devices will rarely help you get anything out of your course. If you cannot take an hour and fifteen minutes away from social media (if only to avoid looking like a bum who doesn’t care about the class at all), you should probably stage an intervention.
I understand you want to see what you would look like as a panda and send it to your friends, but you have a paper due tomorrow. That paper may even pertain to some information being taught today by a professional who is paid to give you the tools to do well in the course. They will not babysit you, and if you fail, your parents probably won’t accept, “But the filters were so great that day!” as an excuse for why your grades aren’t up to par. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about college from my eight and a half months here, it’s been that you simply cannot waste your time in class. That is, unless you want to pay for it ten-fold two weeks later the night before a test when you realize that you have no idea what the chapters are even about.
Another reason to not do this is because it is disrespectful to the instructor, and the hard work they have put into the lesson presented to you. They spend tireless hours trying to make it as interesting as possible just so you, the student, can have a good experience. From their perspective, it is draining and probably saddening to see their students so uninspired by what they themselves are passionate about. Would you scroll through your phone if you knew something was about to change your life?
Epiphanies come in strange and untimely fashions. By learning about the articulate language of Ovid or any other piece of classic literature (any subject, really), you may find a phrase or piece of information so interesting you become inclined to share it with others. By creating new opportunities for others to learn, you even make yourself look and feel more intelligent. Who knows… you may even be so inspired that you get it tattooed onto your body for your next popular Tumblr post. I would like it, favorite it, reblog it, and replay it!
Possibility is everywhere, but you will miss it if you spend the entire class period staring at a screen. You miss the chance to take in new information that will enrich your presence in this world. And that is devastating – heartbreaking even. The world will not wait for your page to refresh.
Please put down your phone and pay attention.
Sincerely,
Someone Who Cares