Being connected in college: turn your phone off or fail

Today was my first day of classes at Syracuse University after being abroad in Madrid, Spain, and I was surprised by some of the things that had changed in the few months I was gone. The weather is still chilly, but changed the most was the policy some of my teachers are now implementing against the use of electronic devices in class.

My advertising teacher included what he calls a two-strike policy on the class syllabus. If you’re caught using your cell phone/iPad/laptop in class (and are not using it for note taking purposes), this is what happens:

1. “The first time, you will be asked to leave that class”

2. “The second time, you will fail the course. I am completely inflexible on this point.”

Boy, did that catch my attention–this may be the best syllabus I’ve ever read in my college career. While it seems stringent at first, I realized how many disruptions it will eliminate from the class. More importantly, I thought of how much more we will actually be able to learn simply because our focus cannot wander off to text messages and emails that can wait for after class.

The truth is this: simply asking students, or anyone, to turn off their cell phone is not enough. If you’ve read Freakonomics, you know that the penalty has to be great in order for a rule to be effective. I think this policy should be implemented University-wide.

I’m making the decision to power down, and I think I’m going to learn a lot more than I originally thought in this course .