I think it’s safe to say smartphones aren’t a need before college, most definitely because phones aren’t even allowed in most schools. I got through the academic side of high school without much use for my phone, which was usually just tucked away since I was scared of the teachers confiscating it.
But how about college? Well, I don’t remember my first day of college as much, but I remember that I was rocking a Sony Xperia Play that time, which I later gave up eventually and got an HTC ChaCha, then a Nexus 4, and finally, my current Nexus 5 – because, yes, I’m still in college. But did I end up using it more than I did back in high school? The short answer is, absolutely.
College is different from high school in a lot of ways (but it does vary from university to university). For one, I have never seen a smartphone confiscated by the professor. The worst that I saw was a threat to confiscate, and that only happened less than 5 times in my 3 years. Students even bring out tablets in the middle of the class, since it is assumed a PDF is loaded up, and your smartphones can lie on your table as long as it distracts no one.
So how did my smartphone really help me in college?
Information Dissemination
Unavoidably, you will have to engage with your class through Facebook groups, or if not, at least through group chats. Your class officers or basically anyone responsible you know will post updates through there. Even last minute assignments.
And also, there are those times where you may or may have not already left your house and the suspension comes instantly. Twitter would be a nice tool to avoid wastes of time and transportation allowance.
Can you survive without it?
Yes, as long as you have a friend who will text or call you for urgent updates.
Notes, Books & Powerpoint Presentations
You’re going to use your phone cameras a lot of times in college, and that could be most likely due to your laziness to copy notes on the board, and because your professor won’t really wait for everyone to finish copying, so he or she’ll just allow everyone to take a picture.
Some professors also give out the soft copy of their presentations, so you can load that and other reference materials into your smartphone if you need to.
Can you survive without it?
Yes! Especially if you’re not the type to study off computer screens like me, who prefers reading off paper. Just copy lecture material from your friends, and print notes & presentation material if you need it.
Group Discussions & Teamwork
Nobody survives college alone. You will have to make friends and connect with people, and there will be times that you will be paired with people you don’t even want to work with. Ultimately, you will be faced with research and thesis eventually.
But you can’t just meet up all the time and do things face-to-face, can you? Not all your friends will be nearby in terms of location, especially if a lot of your blockmates will be “dorm-ing” in Manila while you go home to farther parts every time.
Can you survive without it?
Yes, but barely, since you will have to go to a computer very frequently, and that means the laptop or the comp shop if you’re in a dorm, and that means going out at night too if your schedules aren’t that convenient.
How about everyone else I know? Honestly, the most common trend that I saw when I got to college was, the non-tech savvy people were rocking BlackBerry phones – but two to three years later, I saw them upgrade to ZenFones, local Android phones or basically any smarter phone. When I asked them how smartphone helped, they did say the same things – organizing timetables & tasks, having study files on their smartphones, and for connecting with people. However, when asked if it was a necessity, they said no, and I agree.
You don’t need a smartphone in college, just like how you don’t really need powerful guns to win wars. You can survive college without one (provided you have friends you can count on as well), but it’s a big advantage to carry one as it makes a lot of things easier on your end, allowing you to finish tasks and be organized in a more efficient manner.
College also gets harder, so maybe halfway, you’ll find an upgrade since great smartphones come on the affordable side as time goes on.
In college, connection and efficiency is key. You can get those without a smartphone, but it’s easier to get there with one.
As for me, i guess can’t since my proffesors iven impose to use a smartphone. Sasabihin ng prof picturan nio na, buburahin ko na. And the worst case pa eh i-airdrop daw nia yung assignment namin… Wow apple product pa hana… Minsan seatworks are even posted at our fb group or school app na hindi naman pwede itext sayo since itetext ba sayo ang limit of **** x arrow 0, or integrate blah blah…
At my high school years, we were allowed to bring our phones even in class. The reason for that was parents rallied at the office to make an exception to bring phones because it served as a necessity. Yeah, It was a big help, taking pictures of the board notes and paperworks and send them via bluetooth, fb or viber, using the school wifi to search for data, secretly playing music on reading time, even helped us to find, like what the post said, last minute reminder, assignment, requirement, etc. Some of us excelled just because they completed the requirements.
But smartphones can’t still be considered a necessity. Added convenience lang ung di ka na magsusulat, at kukunan mo na lang ang litrato ang notes.
though not really a necessity, owning one could be a very great advantage. when i got my smartphobe napansin ko nagimprove ang studying habits ko. dati kasi nakakapagod magtutok sa computer screen when you need to study notes on a computer or laptop, kasi ang hirap magfocus. Most notes kasi na binibigay ng instructors ngayon is powerpoint resentations, PDF Files, most instructors na din kasi wanted to go paperless para makatipid. Ngayong may phone na ako, magsesave nalang ako ng notes ko sa smartphone ko at pwede ako magreview anytime kahit nakahiga sa kama. For me, this is much more convenient at relaxing at mas nakakapag aral ka talaga. Kaya sobrang useful para sa akin ang smartphone ko. Plus you can also find a lot of ebooks for free where you can have more sources of information.
Agree din ako sa ibang features like using them for task and time managements. Very useful talaga
Rason lang yan ng mga students ngaun. But, its not a necessity. May normal na cellphone ka lang ok na. It doesn’t need to be a smartphone.
“Maraming dahilan pag ayaw, kaya naman lahat, basta gugustuhin lang.”
As a college student who is dependent on my smartphone, (& other gadgets) I would have to disagree with this article. The arguments have so many weak points; and unless you are a technophobe, everyone needs their smartphone to get by in daily activities.
Pwede naman kahit feature phone lang basta may laptop.
Sa panahon ngayon, hindi pa masasabing necessity ang smartphone. Pero sa mga susunod na taon, magiging necessity na yan. Maraming mga bagay na ngayon ang dumedepende sa smartphone para kontrolin.
Parang PCs lang din yan, di rin naman necessary dati, pero ngayon sobrang hirap kung walang computer.
I think students today has all the advantage in terms of technology “Assisting” them in learning.
Masasabi ko lang, respect your parents they did not have Google back then to research and assist them while learning.
True. Gen Xers should be proud of that, but then again, we could make the argument that because we are “assisted” by technology, professors expect more from us. That we should finish this and that easily, because information is not as hard to get as it was before. So you know, that’s where the pressure comes up.
I dont get why such an article exists dont limit the use of smartphone to u selfish bastards kung gusto ng nursery ng smartphone anong paki niyo and pag college mas importante smartphone? Tlga? Sabihin ng tatay m kami library lang etcetc walang internet. I mean come on anyone should start using it when they want or how they want to. Etong article na to isasampal pa ng parents sa anak na oh anak mag nokia 3310 k muna sabi ng yugatech di naman kailangan sa highschool eh kung ikaw ung highschool student na un im sure you’d eff this writer up. in highschool theyd say the same thing na yes they can survive w9thout it but its always bettrt to have one…… worst type of article i have seen gusto lang ipang viral sa social media. Parang cosmo style article.
me:ayy tika la(conyo pala dapat)ohh wait sir my phone’s notepad is loading palang don’t make bura muna. Wait my 3G is loading pa why so bagal the signal here?
-Symbian Owner
I remember when I was 5th grade when my teacher ask what’s the meaning of NASA, then I got my first smartphone that time. Yeh! I got the answer quickly naman grin emoticon
I tried out the internet.org app. If you have a smart sim card this gives you free 3g/hsdpa internet access to some websites, such as wikipedia
Sure of course you could run to a net cafe but what if you needed the info between classes or very late at night when its too late or too dangerous to go to a net cafe
it was only a point of view of one person lol.
Yes, specially for post grad courses
taking picture notes made my studies a lot easier for a loner like me ;___; so yes i depend on my smartphone to study the materials my teacher give but sadly the technology wasn’t there when i was still in college… especially for math! damn teachers kept giving strange uncovered formulas!
Alibi na lang ng new generation na kailangan ang smartphone sa pag-aaral. Kung nakasurvive ang mga magulang natin na ang gamit lang ay scientific calculator at notebook, kaya din yun ng mga students ngayon. Kung madaliang information pwede namang pumunta sa pinakamalapit na internet shop, less distraction at cheating methods pa.
eh wala naman powerpoint presentation magulang natin dati ah. wala naman sila mga email add na provided ng school for announcement. wala ng university ngayon na tulad ng pinag-aralan ng magulang natin dati. lahat nakikisabay na sa technology. ano ba namang pag-iisip yan brad.
Powerpoint presentation? E di maglaptop ka. Pumunta ka sa internet cafe para nakafocus ka sa pag-aaral at bawas ang distractions. Announcement? E di wag kang tatamad tamad at pumunta ka official school bulletin board o di kaya puntahan mo ang professor mo para sa updates. Hindi dahil may nagsasabi na hindi kailangan ang smartphone sa college hindi ibig sabihin na di kailangang sumabay sa technology. Yan ang hirap sa inyong mga bata ngayon, madami kayong dahilan sa katawan, lahat ng information spoon fed na pero tatanga tanga pa rin kayo. Andami kong hinawakang empleyado na nasa 20-25 years old na sinibak ko dahil simpleng utos at spelling sa resume di pa magawa. Pag tiningnan mo naman ang browsing history puro 9gag, facebook, instagram, pornhub at kung ano ano pang distractions. May diploma sila pero wala silang natutunan sa college dahil first year pa lang smartphone na ang inaatupag. Shame on your generation na simpleng petsa at appointment date e di pa magawang tandaan. Wag kang magdahilan brad, defensive ka lang dahil totoo naman na during classes e fb at youtube lang ginagawa ninyo na tinatakpan lang ng notebook.
@Archie, we can make this a meaningful conversation without having to “shame” or “attack” each others’ generations. I respect your opinion, but i think we shouldn’t really use the “magulang” argument all the time. Yes, hats off to the older generation for surviving college w/o much technology, but it doesn’t mean we have to undermine what the new generation go through in college and what they are capable of. Study (and teaching) patterns are changing because of technology, and it’s something we as millennials are just trying to embrace. You can say that we are spoon fed with information, but because information is easily available, expectations on us are high. Professors expect us to be more productive. A term paper was assigned today, and the professor is expecting it to be submitted next meeting or next week. Things like that. So yeah, we can look at things in different ways. Hindi ibig sabihin na you’ve worked with millennials you find incompetent eh that speaks na of the whole generation. Hasty generalization in my opinion.
ay nakalimutan ko… kailangan yan ng college students para after ng klase at naglandi, may pangvideo ng private moments nila ng jowa nya. haha! tapos magli-leak, syempre kailangan mo din ng phone para madownload at para mapanood, at para maishare via Bluetooth sa mga kakilala. haha!
“pang solve ng math problems na di kinakaya ng scientific calculators”
Wow!! haha! komedyante ka easy e? di kaya ng calculator? o di kaya ng utak ng gumagamit nung calculator? kasi di alam kung paano gamitin ang scientific calculator? o di lang talaga alam ang i-ka-calculate dahil di naiintindihan yung math problem? o naiintindihan man di ma-analyze ng tama?
ay di mo alam. Di ka kasi engineer. LOL
@Easy E mali pa rin ang statement mo na “pang solve ng math problems na di kinakaya ng scientific calculators”.
Kaya lahat ng calculator na isolve ang problem. Baka ang tinutukoy mo eh ung features na meron ang smartphone na wala sa typical scientific calculators, like graphing, etc.
of course di mo alam ang sinasabi ko. Haha i am not refering to a missing functionality in a scientific calc. Yung tinutukoy ko ay yung merong function sa sci calc na beyond ng limitation nya. You like examples? LOLOLOL
Higher level math yung tinutukoy niya, people. You don’t have any idea sa kung anong klaseng math ang pinagdadaanan naming mga engineers na di kayang icompute/solve ng common scientific/graphing calculator.
Trust me. I’m an engineer too.
Higher level of Math? Wag nyo nga kaming gawing utu uto. Hindi nagbabago ang principles of math for the past 100 years. Kung ano ang differential at integral calculus na tinuturo noong 1980s ganun pa rin ang tinuturo sa mga students ngayon. Kung calculator lang ang defense argument mo e talo ka na dahil di rin nagbago ang scientific calculators since 1970s. Mas masarap kasing magfb at youtube sa smartphone pag nasa hulihan ka at hindi napapansin ng professor di ba? Bobo rin yung nagsabi na technophobe lang ang may ayaw ng smartphone sa school dahil pag nagtatrabaho na kayo sa corporate world ipapalagay din sa locker ang gadgets ninyo. Marami na akong nahawakang smartphones at sinungaling ako kung sasabihin kong nagiging productive ako pag may hawak akong gadget.
@Easy E then give an example, I dare you.
Kung mayroon ngang ganoon, edi paano naging engineer ang last generation? Ano, sa atin lang nagsimula ang engineers?
I’m an engineering student, btw, so I know what I’m talking about.
Find x: shift-solve mo.
0.63 = exp(-2x) sin(2x)
@Easy E Edi tama nga ako. Ang tinutukoy mo lang eh ung pagiging limited ng features ng scientific calculator. Kaya pa rin yan isolve gamit nag scientific calculator, hassle nga lang.
Kung ibigay sayo yan ng boss mo, at sinabing sagutan mo nang gamit lang ang calcu, anong gagawin mo? Magreresign ka na lang ba dahil wala kang hawak na smartphone?
Smartphones pwede pang takedown ng notes, record ng lecture ng prof, pang record ng lab results, pang store ng data sa computer class, pang exchange ng lecture files and books, pang download ng lecture notes ng prof, pang instant search sa mga bagay bagay na diniscuss sa class, pang search ng assignments, pang solve ng math problems na di kinakaya ng scientific calculators, pag gamit ng online mathematical tools kagaya ng wolframalpha…
Pwede ring pang leak ng questions ng prof from one class to another, pang cheat during class (daming paraan).. Necessity na yan ngayon kagaya ng laptop PCs sa ilang mga kurso sa college.