College students often feel guilty about texting in class: Survey

WASHINGTON - Many students don’t think texting should be allowed during class and almost half feel guilty about doing so when they’re not supposed to, according to a survey of more than 1,000 students at the University of New Hampshire.

Conducted by student researchers at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics, the study looked at the texting behaviors of students. The survey was administered by members of a marketing research class led by adjunct professor Chuck Martin. A total of 1,043 students from all colleges at the university were surveyed.

The survey results showed that while many students do not believe texting should be allowed in class, almost half - 49 percent - feel guilty texting in class when it is not allowed. Slightly more than half (51 percent) are distracted from class material when they text. About half of the students (51 percent) said they are prohibited from texting in up to half of their classes. The remaining 49 percent said they are prohibited from texting in more than half of their classes.

“I wasn’t surprised by the results, but I was surprised to see that some teachers didn’t prohibit texting in their classes,” said Gretchen Eastman, one of the lead student researchers on the study.

The study found that business students are the most prolific texters, and that women are more apt to text than men. The survey showed that 65 percent of students send at least one text message in a typical class. (ANI)