Should Professors Ban Laptops?

I sit in class and watch the people around me. Today the person on my left was txting on their phone under the table. The person on my right was getting txts on her screen every minute or so (which she read). One of the three people in front of me was writing on gmail, the other two were surfing the web unrelated to class. In front of them was a woman using a large iPad to take notes (I think).

It seems that network addiction is alive and well. About 50% of students walking between classes are looking at their phones. Phones should have a collision alert function built-in. I am tempted to carry an air-horn to alert a student who is about to crash into me.

Fortunately, there is progress. It used to be that you had to tell students to turn off their sound before starting class. Now I never see a class interrupted by a ringing phone. Of course, I rarely see a student using the voice feature of their 'phone'.

One prof asked students who use laptops to sit in the back of class so they do not distract other students.

As for the comment that "not use technology is holding them back for no valid reason"... well, if you're actually paying attention it seems that every sentence the professor utters is relevant to the message. At $50k per year, you'd think that it would be useful to give your undivided attention... but I don't think most students are capable of that anymore. 80 minutes of class without world-contact seems to be impossible.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No.

Why would this ever be a good idea. The education is already in very real danger of becoming an anachronism. There is nothing inherently better about the current system. Technology is a way of life, trying to force students (or anyone for that matter) to not use technology is holding them back for no valid reason.

Education needs to catch up with the modern era. We can't hold students back because professors are afraid or incapable of teaching in the modern era.