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	herongale 2010-01-17 08:52 pm UTC (link)
	How is texting all that distracting for students? I'm legitimately curious. I agree that it can be distracting for professors, which is reason enough to discourage it, but I don't see it as being that big a deal for other students so long as the texting is going on quietly. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	twinno 2010-01-17 09:04 pm UTC (link)
	It's been a while since I've been the student in the situation, but I've had students come up to me before and after class to complain about their classmates' texting. Usually on the first day of the course I let them set their own rules for classroom accord, and texting during class is one that comes up consistently. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sequinedlizard 2010-01-17 09:06 pm UTC (link)
	From being in class - I know the -tickticktick- of texting is distracting, as is the fairly common stifled giggling, the light that I've caught out the corner of my eye and gone "WTF?," and the sound of vibrating all distract me, depending on the class. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	finchbird 2010-01-17 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	I can easily get distracted by people who are texting or are on their laptops not taking notes. (Reply to this)(Parent)

keri
2010-01-17 09:26 pm UTC (link)

For me it's the noise of the keys. Note-taking on a laptop is also a bit distracting, especially if the person is sitting in a desk to my right, left, or in the row ahead of me, because then the screen is RIGHT THERE and my eyes get drawn to the glow.

Just reading a text (so long as there's no vibrate or beep or ring or other kind of alert) isn't as bothersome.

But I also get irritated to no end when someone in the car with me is texting, even if I'm not driving. If I AM driving and it's someone in the passenger seat, it's distracting + irritating, like in class?, because my irritation keeps me from giving my full attention where it's needed.

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	sparkysrevenge 2010-01-18 01:28 am UTC (link)
	If I'm unmedicated, it's just one more distraction to see a cellphone pop out and hear the tickatap tickatap. Of course, I had to take tests in a special room due to noise, so I'm not the average person. I'm a very sensitive auditory learner who just so happens to have ADD. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

blue_penguin
2010-01-18 09:10 am UTC (link)

Yeah, it's more or less the same for me. I always hated being in classes where people were... doing stuff they shouldn't be doing (texting, goofing around on computers, talking to their friends, eating or chewing gum, listening to music with the volume high enough that I could hear it, and so on and so forth), not because I was some kind of super-goody-two-shoes, but because it made it that much harder for me to focus.

(And obviously I am a special snowflake and the world ought to cater to my needs, so!)

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lyssa
2010-01-19 03:24 am UTC (link)

I also have a lot of issues with tons of peripheral movement and slight sounds myself, though not the ADD. I find it really irritating and distracting unless I'm really, really into taking notes/testing or the person is out of my field of attention.

And yes, it's really, really obvious to me when someone is texting, or playing on their laptop, or one of the other "~silent~" things they do that isn't paying attention in class or daydreaming.

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	evilsqueakers 2010-01-18 01:35 am UTC (link)
	Because the person is usually NOT paying attention in class and thus the professor is focusing on the student and not the lesson the other students are paying to learn. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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