(July 7, 2015) A
yearlong study of first-time smartphone users by researchers at Rice University
and the U.S. Air Force found that users felt smartphones were actually detrimental
to their ability to learn.
The research paper “You Can Lead a Horse to Water But You
Cannot Make Him Learn: Smartphone Use in Higher Education” appeared in a recent
edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology. The research reveals
the self-rated impact of smartphones among the users.
“Smartphone technology is penetrating world markets and
becoming abundant in most college settings,” said Philip Kortum, assistant
professor of psychology at Rice and the study’s co-author. “We were interested
to see how students with no prior experience using smartphones thought they
impacted their education.
The research revealed that while users initially believed
the mobile devices would improve their ability to perform well with homework
and tests and ultimately get better grades, the opposite was reported at the
end of the study.