{"id":98,"date":"2018-11-09T09:12:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T14:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=98"},"modified":"2018-11-09T12:51:59","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T17:51:59","slug":"smarter-in-an-instant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/fall-2018\/smarter-in-an-instant\/","title":{"rendered":"Smarter in an Instant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fullwidth\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-third_column wp-image-404\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2018\/11\/person-using-phone-364x364.jpg\" alt=\"Person using a smartphone\" width=\"364\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2018\/11\/person-using-phone-364x364.jpg 364w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2018\/11\/person-using-phone-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2018\/11\/person-using-phone-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/magazine\/sites\/13\/2018\/11\/person-using-phone.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"type-intro fullwidth\">It\u2019s possible if you put away your phone.<\/p>\n<p>So says <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/meet\/tracy-proulx\/\">Tracy Proulx<\/a>, Harrington School of Communication and Media senior lecturer. Her course, \u201cCOM 321: Social Media and Interpersonal Communication,\u201d requires students to examine what effect their social media and technology use has on their perceptions, identities, and relationships. And, in doing so, they just might get better grades.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in\">\u201cThe rule<\/span> in my class is <i>no phones<\/i>,\u201d Proulx says. \u201cIf a student is even touching a phone, it\u2019s one point off of their final average.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in\">Her justification:<\/span> Researchers have found that a student with a phone on their desk will score lower on an assessment than one who keeps the phone in their backpack.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in\">In the course<\/span> of the semester, Proulx requires students to analyze their social media use for a week, asking questions such as, \u201cHow many days, weeks, years did you waste on Instagram? You can\u2019t get that time back. What could you have been doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in\">Students are often aghast<\/span> at their self-study. \u201cI\u2019m a horrible person,\u201d one student told Proulx. \u201cI\u2019ve been wasting my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"lead-in\">The Pew Research Center<\/span> reports that 95 percent of U.S. adults own mobile phones. How much wasted time that adds up to is impossible to say, but knowledge is power, Proulx says. \u201cUse it, but understand it. Don\u2019t let it dictate your life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"cl-panel-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf a student is even touching a phone, it\u2019s one point off of their final average.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2018","architecture-currents","architecture-the-fast-break"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}